fV 

LIBRARY 

UNIVERSITY  Of      I 
CAIIFORNIA      ) 


JS 


In  Prospero  the  poet  is  all  his  characters  and 


himself  too."— DENTON  J.  SNIDER. 


SH  AKE-SPEARE 

DRAMA  ol  the  TEMPEST. 


VERULAM  EDITION, 


The  Restoration  of  Man's  Empire  over  Nature 


Edited  by  ED  WIN  REED,  A .  M. 
Illustrations  by  F.  K.  ROGERS. 


Men  must  refrain  their  rights,  the  gift  of  God, 
over  Nature— NOVUM  OHGANUM. 


131 


PREFACE. 


In  presenting  this  volume  to  the  public  it  was'  the 
author's  intention  to  supply  all  lovers  of  the  (so- 
called  (Shakespeare  plays  with  an  edition  of  the 
"Tempest,"  corrected  and  annotated  from  the  view- 
point of  Francis  Bacon  as  its  author.  Mr.  Reed's 
knowledge  of  the  classics  and  his  years  of  deep  and 
exhaustless  research  into  those  wells  whence  the 
"greatest  poet  of  any  day"  drew  his  inspiration  are 
here  proven.  Had  he  lived,  this  eminent  Baconian 
proposed  to  edit  all  the  plays  in  a  similar  manner. 
His  death  unhappily  devolves  this  duty  upon  other 
shoulders,  which,  let  it  be  hoped,  will  bend  to  the 
labors  speedily  and  with  joy. 

So  far  as  Mr.  Reed  or  any  fair-minded  judge  is 
concerned,  all  controversy  over  the  authorship  of 
the  "Tempest"  is  already  closed.  The  time-worn 
belief  that  Wm.  Shakespeare  wrote  the  plays  has 
led  commentators  and  editors  into  mistakes  such  as 
always  result  from  a  wrong  premise.  Unable  to  ac- 
count for  certain  words,  they  have  either  changed 
them  to  accord  with  their  own  sense  of  the  mean- 
ing, or  pointed  out  in  foot-notes  that  the  author  was 
astray.  Whoever  compares  the  later  editions  of 
Shakespeare  to  the  first  folio  can  see  at  once  how 
the  commentators  wilfully  or  through  ignorance 
here  put  us  at  the  mercy  of  twisted  phrases  and 
false  derivations.  This  is  still  further  illustrated  in 
Mr.  Reed's  edition  of  Julius  Caesar  (yet  unpub- 
lished.) That  any  careful  poet  or  compiler — and  the 
folio  shows  a  rigid  care  for  details — should  allow 
not  one  but  a  score  of  errors  to  go  down  to  pos- 
terity, is  absurd.  That  subsequent  editors  let  these 
stand  without  a  question  is  incredible !  However, 


PREFACE. 

the  truth  will  out.  Starting  with  the  correct  belief 
that  "though  this  be  madness,  yet  there  is  method 
in  't,"  Mr.  Reed  has  unearthed  the  gold  and  dis- 
placed the  accumulated  dross.  The  value  of  the 
"Tempest"  thus  restored  will  be  obvious  to  the 
reader.  Nor  could  there  be  a  more  fitting  climax  to 
the  life-work  of  a  great  scholar. 


II 


BIOGRAPHY. 


Francis  Bacon,  the  son  of  Lord  Chancellor  Bacon, 
was  born  on  the  22d  day  of  Jan.  1561  at  York  Place 
in  London,  his  mother  being  one  of  the  famous 
daughters  of  Sir  Anthony  Cooke,  the  birth-place 
being  twice  mentioned  in  the  play  of  Henry  the 
Eighth.  His  father  was  born  in  Chiselhurst,  County 
of  Kent,  the  localities  of  which  are  frequently  re- 
ferred to  in  King  Lear  and  Henry  VI. 

At  the  age  of  twelve  he  entered  Cambridge,  but 
his  dislike  of  the  system  of  philosophy  taught  there 
induced  him  to  leave  before  the  course  was  finished, 
claiming  that  they  taught  him  nothing  but  "words." 
He  then  spent  three  years  on  the  continent,  chiefly 
in  France,  visiting  particular  places  mentioned  in 
the  early  plays. 

In  the  spring  of  1579  he  returned  to  England  on 
account  of  the  death  of  his  father,  and  resided  for 
a  year  or  more  at  St.  Alban's,  where  so  many  of  the 
scenes  of  the  historical  plays  are  laid,  as  they  con- 
tain between  twenty  and  twenty-five  references  to 
the  town  and  its  neighborhood. 

In  1581,  then  20  years  old,  he  begins  to  "keep 
terms"  at  Gray's  Inn,  and  the  following  year  he  is 
called  to  the  bar  For  the  three  following  years,  we 
know  but  little  of  what  he  is  doing,  but  in  1585  he 
writes  a  sketch  of  his  philosophy,  which  he  calls  the 
"Greatest  Birth  of  Time,"  which  it  is  supposed  was 
afterwards  broadened  out  into  the  "Advancement  of 
Learning" 

In    1585   the    Contention  between   the   two   houses 
of  York  and  Lancaster  appeared,  and  in  1586  he  is 
made  a  bencher.    During  this  year,  while  he  is  lead- 
ing a  somewhat  secluded  life,  according  to  Malone, 
III 


BIOGRAPHY. 

the  Taming  of  the  Shrew,  Love's  Labor  Lost,  and 
the  Two  Gentlemen  of  Verona,  appear,  probably  in 
imperfect  form. 

In  1586  the  earlier  form  of  Hamlet  is  mentioned, 
and  in  1587  he  assists  in  getting  up  a  play  for  the 
Gray's  Inn  Revels,  known  as  the  "Misfortunes  of 
Arthur."  He  also  assists  in  some  masks  to  be 
played  before  the  Queen,  and  in  1588  he  became  a 
member  of  parliament. 

In  1591  the  Queen  visits  him  at  his  brother  An- 
thony's at  Twickenham,  and  he  Tvrites  a  sonnet  in 
her  honor.  According  to  Mrs.  Pott,  in  this  year  is 
attributed  Henry  VI.,  the  scene  being  laid  in  the 
Provinces  of  France  visited  by  Bacon,  also  the  Two 
Gentlemen  of  Verona,  which  reflects  his  brother's 
visit  to  Italy.  Hence  the  Shakespeare  comedies  ex- 
hibit the  combined  influence  of  Anthony's  letters 
from  abroad,  and  Francis'  studies  at  Gray's  Inn. 

In  1592  Francis  is  in  trouble  and  is  thrown  in 
prison  by  a  London  Jew  named  bimpson  on  account 
of  a  debt,  his  brother  Anthony  coming  to  his  relief 
and  pledging  his  estates  as  surety,  followed  appro- 
priately enough  by  the  "Merchant  of  Venice." 

In  1593  Bacon  composes  for  some  festive  occa- 
sion a  device  or  mask  called  the  "Conference  of 
Pleasure,"  and  the  "Venus  and  Adonis"  also  ap- 
pears with  a  dedication  from  Wm.  Shakespeare  to 
the  Earl  of  Southampton,  Bacon's  fellow  in  Gray's 
Inn.  It  is  mentioned  in  the  "Polimanteia"  an  anony- 
mous work  published  in  1595  as  having  been,  writ- 
ten by  a  Cambridge  undergraduate  who  afterwards 
entered  Gray's  Inn.  When  the  fortunes  of  Bacon 
and  Southampton  separate,  because  of  Southamp- 
ton's connection  with  the  Essex  treason,  it  is  re- 
published  without  the  dedication. 

In  1594  Lady  Anne  Bacon  appears  to  be  distressed 
about  her  son's  devotion  to  plays  and  play-houses, 
begging  him  in  her  letters  not  to  "mum  nor 
.mask  nor  sinfully  revel."  In  this  year  he  also 

IV 


BIOGRAPHY. 

begins  his  "Promus  of  Formularies  and  Elegancies," 
so  ably  edited  by  Mrs.  Pott  of  London,  which 
fairly  bristles  with  thoughts,  expressions  and  quo- 
tations found  in  the  Shakespeare  plays. 

In  the  same  year  the  Comedy  of  Errors  appears 
for  the  first  time  at  Gray's  Inn,  also  the  Poem  of 
"Lucrece,"  and  a  masque  which  Essex  presents  to 
her  Majesty,  called  the  Device  of  an  Indian  Prince. 
In  1597  the  first  edition  of  the  famous  essays,  ten 
in  number,  is  published,  being  much  enlarged  in  sub- 
sequent editions. 

About  1601,  seems  to  be  noticed  what  is  known 
as  the  dark  period  in  Bacon's  life,  evidently  caused 
by  the  Essex  trouble,  which  is  also  alleged  to  have 
hastened  the  death  of  his  brother  Anthony,  and  the 
insanity  of  his  mother,  and  which  appears  to  be  re- 
flected in  the  Sonnets  and  Hamlet,  published  about 
this  time. 

In  1605  the  Advancement  of  Learning  appears, 
and  also,  on  account  of  his  great  familiarity  with 
the  Bible,  which  is  shown  in  the  plays  and  various 
other  works,  he  is  selected  the  direct  the  revision  of 
the  King  James  version. 

In  1607  Bacon  became  Solicitor  General  Attorney 
General  in  1613,  Privy  Councillor  in  1616,  followed 
by  Lord  High  Chancellor  in  1618,  and  Viscount  St. 
Albans  in  1620.  During  this  period  few  literary  pro- 
ductions appeared,  but  after  his  downfall  in  1621, 
until  his  death,  with  the  assistance  of  Ben  Jonson, 
who  resided  with  him  at  Gorhambnry,  all  of  the 
plays  and  many  other  works  were  revised  and  pub- 
lished, fourteen  plays  never  before  printed,  being 
added  to  the  First  Folio  of  1623. 

To  the  question  so  often  asked  as  to  why  Bacon 
did  not  openly  admit  his  authorship  of  the  playss, 
the  answer  is  that  he  described  his  philosophy  as 
The  Interpretation  of  Nature.  What  he  meant  by 
nature  in  this  connection  he  tells  us  in  the  Noiwm 
Organum,  thus  :  "It  may  be  asked  whether  I  speak  of 


BIOGRAPHY. 

natural  philosophy  alone,  or  whether  I  mean  that  the 
other  sciences,  logic,  ethics  and  politics,  should  also 
be  carried  on  by  this  method.  Now  I  certainly  mean 
what  I  have  said  to  be  understood  of  them  all ;  and 
as  the  common  logic,  which  governs  by  the  syllo- 
gism, extends  not  only  to  natural,  but  also  to  all  sci- 
ences, so  does  mine,  which,  proceeding  by  induction, 
embraces  everything.  For  I  form  a  history  and 
tables  of  discovery  for  anger,  fear,  shame  and  the 
like ;  for  matters  political ;  and  again  for  the  men- 
tal operations  of  memory,  composition,  division, 
judgment  and  the  rest,  not  less  than  for  heat  and 
cold,  or  light,  or  vegetation."  (CXXVII.)  He 
says  further,  eleswhere  and  with  more  particularity, 
that  he  will  treat  of  the  "characters  and  disposi- 
tions of  men  as  they  are  affected  by  sex,  by  age,  by 
religion,  by  health,  and  illness,  by  beauty  and  de- 
formity; and  also  of  those  which  are  caused  by 
fortune,  as  sovereignty,  nobility,  obscure  birth, 
riches,  want,  magistracy,  prosperity  and  adversity." 

Bacon's  philosophy,  therefore,  as  he  conceived  it, 
embraced  our  whole  being,  the  mind  and  its  traits 
as  well  as  the  physical  powers  by  which  we  are 
governed.  .  It  had  no  other  limitation  than  that  of 
our  life  and  its  interests  here  on  the  earth. 

Among  the  personal  qualifications  of  such  an  in- 
terpreter, as  laid  down  by  Bacon,  is  one  to  which 
thus  far  little  attention  has  been  given,  viz. :  "Let 
him  manage  his  personal  affairs  under  a  mask,  but 
with  due  regard  to  the  circumstances  in  which  he  is 
placed."*  This  is  probably  as  clear  a  statement  on 
the  point  as  Bacon  deemed  it  prudent  to  make,  but 
the  following  inference  from  it  is  unmistakable ; 
any  person  who  would  undertake  Bacon's  work  as 
a  philosopher  and  carry  it  on  as  he  did  must  wear  a 
mask.  Therefore  it  follows  that  Bacon  himself 


*The  original  Latin  is  as  follows  :  Priratd  ))c(/<>li<i 
personatus  administrcl  rcrum  taincii  pror-ixHx  Nitbmic- 
rans. 

VI 


BIOGRAPHY. 

wore  one.     That  is,  he  wrote  under  a  pseudonym, 

The  author  of  the  Plays  also  wore  a  mask,  for  the 
name  he  assumed — Shake-speare — could  not  possi- 
bly have  been  his  true  one.  No  such  patronymic 
was  ever  known  in  the  history  of  the  world.  It 
seems  to  have  been  derived  from  Pallas,  the  god- 
dess of  wisdom,  and  who  was  represented  in  the 
statuary  art  of  the  Greeks  with  an  immense  spear 
in  her  right  hand.  She  was  known  indeed  as  th£ 
Spear-shaker  or  Shakespear  of  the  Grecian  civiliza- 
tion. 

Thns  name,  with  a  hyphen  between  the  syllables, 
appears  fifteen  times  in  the  Shakespearean  Plays. 

In  Liddell  and  Scott's  Greek-English  lexicon  the 
name  of  Pallas  is  etymologically  given  as  The 
Brandisher  of  the  Spear. 

The  death  of  Francis  Bacon  and  his  interment  in 
St.  Michael's  Church,  St.  Albans,  and  of  which 
there  does  not  seem  to  be  any  very  reliable  account, 
occurred  in  April,  1626,  and^it  would  seem  appropri- 
ate to  append  several  of  a* much  larger  number  of 
eulogies  published  at  the  time  of  his  decease. 

The  Literary  Works  of  Bacon  are  called  to  the 
Pyre.  Instauratio  Magna\  subtle  sayings;  a  two- 
fold increase  of  the  sciences,  written  both  in  thy 
country's  speech  and  then  in  Latin  with  multifold 
enlargement;  profound  history  of  life  and  death, 
annotated  as  it  were,  or  rather  bathed,  with  stream 
of  nectar  or  with  Attic  honey !  Nor  must  the 
seventh  Henry  fail  of  mention,  or  if  aught  there 
be  of  more  cultured  loves,  aught  that  I  unwitting 
have  passed  over  of  the  works  which  the  vigor  of 
great  Bacon  hath  produced  —a  Muse  more  choice 
than  the  nine  Muses  Ascend  ye  (Muses)  all,  the 
funeral  flames  and  give  to  your  parent  liquid 
light.  The  ages  are  not  worthy  to  enjoy  you,  when 
alas,  (oh,  monstrous  shame!)  vour  Lord  is  taken 
away."  S.  Collins,  R.  C  P. 

VII 


BIOGRAPHY. 

,;  (Rector  of  King's  College,  Cambridge.) 

Tbreuody  on  the  Death  of  the  Most  Illustrious:  and 

:  ;  Most   Eminent  Hero,   Sir  Francis   Bacon, 

•  '.'.(.,  ;.;•    .  Baron  Verulam. 

"Pour  now  ye  Muses  your  perennial  founts  into  a 
song  of  woe,  and  let  Apollo  shed  in  tears  whatever 
even  jthe  stream  of  Costaly  contains  For  no  humble 
dirge  would  befit  so  great  a  death,  nor  moderate 
drops  crown  this  stupendous  tomb.  The  Sinews  of 
Wit,  the  Marrow  of  Persuasion,  the  Tagus  of 
Eloquence,  the  Precious  Gem  of  Recondite  Letters, 
has  fallen  by  the  Fates  (ah  me,  the  three  sisters' 
cruel  threads!) — The  noble  Bacon,  Ah  how  can  I 
extol  thee  greatest  Bacon,  in  my  lay!  or  how  those 
glorious  monuments  of  all  ages,  chiselled  by  thy 
genius,  by  Minerva  How  full  thy  Instaurotio 
Magna  of  matter  learned,  elegant,  profound !  With 
what  light  hath  it  dispelled  the  gloomy  moths  of 
ancient  sages,  creating  new  Wisdom  out  of  Chaos  ! 
So  God  Himself  with  potent  hand  will  restore  the 
body  consigned  to  the* tomb.  Thus  Bacon,  thou 
shalt  not  die ;  for  from  death,  from  the  shades,  from 
the  tomb,  thy  great  Installation  shall  deliver  thee-. 

R.  C.     T.  C. 
(i.  e.  of  Trinity  College.) 

On  .the  Death  of  the  Most  Cultured,  and,  too.  Most 
Noble  Man,  Francis,   Lord  Verulam, 

Viscount  St.  Alban. 

The  Day  star  of  the  Muse  hath  fallen  ere  his 
time !  Fallen  ah  me,  is  the  very  care  and  sorrow  of 
the  Clarian  god,  thy  darling,  Nature,  and  the 
world's — Bacon  :  aye — passing  strange — the  grief  of 
very  Death.  What  privilege  did  not  the  cruel  Des- 
tiny claim,  Death  would  fain  spare,  and  yet  she 
would  it  not.  Melpomene,  chiding,  would  not  suffer 
it,  and  spake  these  words  to  the  stern  goddesses : 
"Never  was  Atropos  truly  heartless  before  now ; 
keep  thou  all  the  world,  only  give  my  Phoebus  back." 

VIII 


BIOGRAPHY. 

Ah  me,  alas !  nor  Heaven  nor  Death  nor  the  Muse, 
oh  Bacon,  nor  my  prayers  could  bar  the  fates. 

ANON. 

On  the  Death  of  the  Same,  etc. 

If  only  the  worthy,  Bacon,  shall  lament  thy  fate, 
ah  none  will  do  it,  there'll  be  none,  believe  me, 
there'll  be  none. 

Weep  ye  now,  truly,  Clio,  and  Clio's  sisters.  Ah, 
fallen  is  the  tenth  Muse,  the  glory  of  the  choir.  Ah 
never  really  was  Apollo  himself  unhappy  before ! 
When  shall  he  ever  gain  another  so  to  love  him? 
Ah  me !  the  full  number  he  shall  have  no  more : 
now  must  Apollo  be  content  with  nine  Muses. 

ANON. 

F.  K.  R. 


IX 


INTRODUCTION. 


The  keynote  to  this  drama  is  in  the  following 
words : — 

-     Miranda.    "How  beauteous  mankind  is!    O  brave 

new  world 
That  has   such  people  in't."  — V.,   I,  215. 

Ferdinand.  "Let   me   live   here   ever; 

So  rare  a  wonder'd  father  and  a  wise 
Make   this   place   PARADISE."        —IV.,    i,    136. 

The  "Tempest"  is  a  dramatization  of  Paradise 
Regained.  It  might  justly  be  called  Instauratio 
Magna,  that  is,  the  Great  Restoration  to  that  state 
of  happiness  which  mankind,  as  once  believed,  orig- 
inally possessed  and  lost.  Its  method  is  precisely  the 
one  laid  down  at  the  same  time  and  for  the  same 
purpose  in  Francis  Bacon's  system  of  philosophy ; 
in  other  words,  the  regeneration  of  the  world 
through  such  a  knowledge  of  arts  and  sciences  as 
that  philosophy,  when  full  developed,  was  expected 
by  its  author  to  reveal.  And  the  effect  of  the  play 
is  entirely  in  harmony  with  this  view  of  it.  In  our 
enraptured  vision  we  seem  to  catch,  as  it  were, 
through  the  opening  skies,  a  momentary  glimpse  of 
what  the  future  has  in  store  for  us. 

As  Macaulay  says  : 

"In  Bacon's  magnificent  day-dreams  there  was  nothing 
wild,  nothing  but  what  sober  reason  sanctioned.  He 
knew  that  all  the  secrets  feigned  by  poets  to  have  been 
written  in  the  books  of  enchanters  are  worthless  wh^n 
compared  with  the  mighty  secrets  which  are  really 
written  in  the  book  of  nature,  and  which,  with  time  and 
patience,  will  be  read  there.  He  knew  that  all  the  won- 
ders wrought  by  all  the  talismans  in  fables  were  trifles 
when  compared  with  the  wonders  which  might  reason- 
ably be  expected  from  the  'philosophy  of  fruit.'  and 
that,  if  his  words  sank  deep  into  the  minds  of  men, 

X 


INTRODUCTION. 

i  hey  would  produce  effects  such  as  superstition  had 
never  ascribed  to  the  incantations  of  Merlin  and  Michael 
Scot.  It  was  here  that  he  loved  tol  et  him  imagination 
loose.  He  loved  to  picture  to  himself  the  world  as  it 
would  he  when  his  philosophy  should,  in  his  own  noble 
phrase,  'have  enlarged  the  bounds  of  human  empire.'  " 

Essay  on  Lord  Bacon. 

Also  from  Sir  Richard   Garnett : 

"Here  (in  the  drama  of  the  Tempest),  more  than  any- 
where else,  we  seem  to  see  the  world  as,  if  it  had  de- 
pended upon  him,  Shakespeare  would  have  made  it." 

Pxospero  is  the  new  man.  Oblivious  of  all  worldly 
interests  under  the  old  regime,  he  is  wholly  absorbed 
in  secret  studies.  Even  when  cast  adrift  on  the 
open  sea  he  is  accompanied  by  his  books ;  books, 
he  takes  pains  to  inform  us,  from  his  own  library, 
such  as  he  loved,  and  such  as  would  enable  him  to 
go  on  with  his  investigations.  Caliban  knows  full 
well  the  source  of  Prospero's  magical  powers,  for  in 
his  injunctions  to  the  conspirators  he  is  continually 
crying — 

"Sieze  his  books," 

"Burn  his  books," 

"Possess  his  books, 

for  without  them 
he's  but  a  sot." 

And  when  the  curtain  is  about  to  fall  on  the  scent, 
the  actors  to  melt  into  air,  into  thin  air,  and  the  in- 
substantial pageant  to  fade,  the  wonderful  magician 
exclaims, 

"I'll  break  my  staff,       , 
Bury  it  certain  fathoms  in  the  earth. 
And  deeper  than  did  ever  plummet  sound, 
I"  drown  my  book." 

Man's  empire  over  nature,  as  illustrated  in  the 
play,  is  complete.  The  ocean  obeys  him.  The  spir- 
its of  the  air,  the  nymphs  of  the  sea,  the  brute  crea- 
tion, all  yield  to  his  will.  But  this  subjection  comes 
not  without  resistance.  Fetters  are  fetters  still, 
XI 


INTRODUCTION. 

though  made  of  gold.  Ariel  and  Caliban  alike  re- 
quire the  threat  of  force.  Even  Ferdinand,  who  may 
be  supposed  to  have  some  of  the  old  turbulent  spirit 
left  temporarily  within  him,  finds  himself  unable  to 
draw  his  sword.  Order,  which  is  Heaven's  first  law, 
is  at  last  supreme. 

It  was,  of  course,  a  necessary  part  of  the  author's 
device  that  every  form  of  wickedness  in  the  world, 
as  the  world  now  is,  should  be  met  and  overcome. 
Accordingly  we  have  certain  crimes,  serving  as  types, 
portrayed  to  this  end.  Ariel  is  cruelly  imprisoned 
by  Sycoraxe  in  a  cloven  pine  and  left  there,  uttering 
groans — 

"as  fast  as  mill-wheels  strike " 

without  hope  of  release ;  an  example  of  that  spirit 
of  enmity  that  lies  at  the  root  of  all  animal  creation, 
and  that  has  provided  every  creature  either  with 
weapons  of  attack  upon  others,  or  with  special  means 
of  escape  from  them.  Caliban  attempts  the  seduc- 
tion of  Miranda.  Antonio  and  Sebastian  conspire 
to  murder  Alonzo  and  Gonzalo  while  they  sleep, 
under  pretence  of  watching  over  them,  although 
Alonzo  is  Sebastian's  brother,  Gonzalo  a  wise  coun- 
sellor, and  both,  as  far  as  we  know,  loving  friends 
of  the  conspirators.  At  the  instance  of  Caliban, 
Stephano  and  his  drunken  companion  creep  stealth- 
ily toward  Prospero's  cell  with  intent  to  kill  him, 
Falsehood,  treachery,  selfishness  abound,  and  yet 
nothing  of  the  kind  succeeds.  The  ends  of  justice 
are  always  preserved.  Forgiveness,  based  on  peni- 
tence, crowns  all. 

The  most  extraordinary  event  recorded  in  the 
play,  however,  is  the  betrothal  of  Ferdinand  and 
Miranda.  All  the  world  loves  a  lover,  but  we  have 
here  something  more  even  than  the  apotheosis  of 
love.  It  is  a  story  like  that  of  our  first  parents,  told 
in  great  wealth  of  detail,  and  with  a  charm  that 
keeps  us  spell-bound  from  beginning  to  end.  Milton 

XII 


INTRODUCTION. 

studied  it  when  he  wrote  his  "Hymn  to  the  Nativity 
of  Christ,"  for  then  also  "a  brave  (beautiful)  new 
world"  was  about  to  be  ushered  in.  Nature  herself 
bursts  forth  into  song.  The  sea  holds  its  breath. 
Virtue  and  Innocence  join  hands,  and  under  the 
blessings  of  the  Queen  of  Heaven  plight  their  faith; 
while  the  goddes  of  the  rainbow,  arching  the  sky, 
proclaims  her  promise  for  the  future  of  humanity. 

The  play  was  probably  written  in  1613 ;  it  was  not 
printed  until  ten  years  later,  in  the  great  Shake- 
spearean folio  of  1623.  Intended  to  be  the  author's 
last,  it  afforded  him  the  opportunity  to  illustrate,  on 
a  scene  of  action  remote  from  the  inhabited  world, 
and  thus  specially  adapted  to  the  purpose,  that  com- 
mand over  Nature  which  the  philosophy  of  the  pe- 
riod was  expected  eventually  to  confer. 

EDWIN    REED. 


XIII 


THE  TEMPEST. 


DRAMATIS  PERSONS. 


,  King  of  Naples. 
SEBASTIAN,  his  brother. 
PROSPERO,  the  rightful  Duke  of  Milan. 
ANTONIO,  his  brother,  the  usurping  Duke  of  Milan. 
FERDINAND,  son  to  the  King  of  Naples. 
GoNZOiyA,  an  honest  old  Counsellor  of  Naples. 
ADRIAN,          \ 
FRANCISCO,    J  Lords' 
CALIBAN,  a  savage  and  deformed  slave. 
TRiNCUiyO,  a  Jester. 
STEPHANO,  a  Drunken  Butler. 
Master  of  a  ship,  Boatswain  and  Mariners. 
MIRANDA,  daughter  to  Prospero. 
ARiEiv,  an  airy  Spirit. 
IRIS,          1 
CERES, 
JUNO,         J> 
Nymphs,    | 
Reapers,    J 


THE  TEMPEST. 


SCENE  I. — On  a  ship  at  sea:  a  tempestuous  noise 
of  thunder  and  lightning  heard. 

Enter  A    SHIP-MASTER  and   A   BOATSWAIN. 

Mast.  Boatswain ! 
Boats.  Here,  master :  what  cheer? 
Mast.  Good,    speak    to    the    mariners :    fall    to    't, 
yarely.  or  we  run  ourselves  aground :  bestir,  bestir. 

(Exit. 
Enter  MARINERS. 

Boats.  Heigh,  my  hearts !  cheerly,  cheerly,  my 
hearts !  yare,  yare !  Take  in  the  topsail.*  Tend  to 
the  master's  whistle.  Blow,  till  thou  burst  thy  wind, 
if  room  enough ! 

Enter  ALONSO,  SEBASTIAN,  ANTONIO,  FER- 
DINAND, GONZALO,  and  others. 

Alon.  Good  boatswain,  have  care.  Where's  the 
master?  Play  the  men. 

Boats.  I  pray  now,  keep  below. 

Ant.  Where  is  the  master,  boatswain? 

Boats.  Do  you  not  hear  him?  You  mar  our  la- 
bour :  keep  your  cabins :  you  do  assist  the  storm. 

Gon.  Nay,  good,  be  patient. 


Act  i.  THE  TEMPEST. 

Boats.  When  the  sea  is.  Hence !  What  cares 
these  roarers  for  the  name  of  king?  To  cabin:  si- 
lence! trouble  us  not. 

Gon.  Good,  yet  remember  whom  thou  hast  aboard. 

Boats.  None  that  I  love  more  than  myself.  You 
are  a  counsellor;  ii  you  can  command  these  ele- 
ments to  silence,  and  work  the  peace  of  the  present, 
we  will  not  hand  a  rope  more ;  use  your  authority : 
if  you  cannot,  give  thanks  you  have  lived  so  long, 
and  make  yourself  ready  in  your  cabin  for  the  mis- 
chance of  the  hour,  if  it  so  hap.  Cheerly,  good 
hearts  !  Out  of  our  way,  I  say.  (Exit. 

Gon.  I  have  great  comfort  from  this  fellow :  me- 
thinks  he  hath  no  drowning  mark  upon  him;  his 
complexion  is  perfect  gallows.  Stand  fast,  good 
Fate,  to  his  hanging* ;  make  the  rope  of  his  destiny 
our  cable,  for  our  own  doth  little  advantage.  If  he 
be  not  born  to  be  hanged,  our  case  is  miserable. 

(Exeunt. 

*This  word  is  here  used  in  its  old  philosophical  sense 
of  temperament  as  determined,  according  to  the  ancients, 
l)y  the  combination  (complexio)  in  every  man  of  the  four 
elementary  humors :  cholor,  melancholy,  phyegm  and 
Hood. 

A.n  allusion  to  the  old  proverb,  "He  that's  born  to  be 
hanged  needs  fear  no  drowning." 

Cf.  Bacons  "He  may  go  by  water,  for  he  is  sure  to 
be  well  landed." — Promus,  1594. 

Re-enter  BOATSWAIN. 

Boats.  Down  with  the  topmast  !*  yare !  lower, 
lower !  Bring  her  to  try  with  main-course.*  (A  cry 
within.)  A  plague  upon  this  howling!  they  are 
louder  than  the  weather  or  our  office. 

Re-enter   SEBASTIAN,   ANTONIO,   and   GON- 
ZALO. 

Yet  again ! '  what  do  'you  here  ?     Shall  we  give  o'er 
and  drown?    Have  you  a  mind  to  sink? 

*The  ship  is  on  a  lee  shore  and  in  great  danger ;  but 
the  above  instructions  have  been  universally  recognized 


THE  TEMPEST.  scene  i. 

by   experienced  mariners   as   those   best  adapted   to   save 
her.     The  courses  are  the  large  lower  sails. 

Cf.  Bacon's  "In  very  heavy  storms  they  first  lower 
tin-  yards.,  and  then  take  in  the  topsails  and,  if  neces- 
sary, all  the  others,  even  cutting  down  the  masts  them- 
selves. A  ship  can  make  Jieadway  against  the  wind  (lay 
her  off)  with  six  points  of  the  compass  only  in  her  favor. 
The  upper  tiers  of  sails  are  chievy  used  when  the  wind  is 
light." — Historia  Ventorum.  • 

The  Historia  Ventorum  is  an  elaborate  treatise  (88 
pp.)  on  ivinds,  and  the  effect  of  winds  on  the  sail  of  a 
ship,  including  occasions  ichen  a  ship  must  lie  close  up, 
"with  topmast  struck  and  main  course  set,"  in  order  to 
escape  "running  aground." 

"A  very  striking  instance  of  the  great  accuracy  of 
Shakespeare's  knowledge,  in  a  professional  science  the 
moHt  difficult  to  attain  without  the  help  of  experience." — • 
Lord  Mulgrave. 

Take  up  your  Shakespeare  and,  read  the  opening  scene 
of  "The  Tempest."  A  ship  is  off  an  unknown  lee-shore, 
laboring  heavily;  a  storm  is  raging;  lightning  is  flash- 
ing; thunder  is  bellowing;  waves  are  madly  roaring; 
*men's}  hearts  are  failing  them  for  fear;'  confusion  and 
terror  are  holding  a  carnival  on  board.  We  appeal  to  all 
intelligent  readers,  and  especially  to  seamen,  to  answer 
whether  they  think  propable  that  Shakespeare  could  have 
'intuitively  penned  that  scene  if  he  had  spent  his  life  en- 
tirely on  shore?  The  thing  is  incredible.  .  .  .  Every 
epithet  in  the  scene  is  exactly  proper  and  in  admirable 
keeping;  every  sea-phrase  is  correct;  evrey  order  of  the 
boatswain's  is  seamanlike  and  precisely  adapted  to  the 
end  in  view." 

"Of  all  negative  facts  in  regard  to  his  (William 
Shakespeare  of  Stratford's)  life,  none  perhaps  is  surer 
than  that  he  never  icas  at  sea." — Richard  Grant  White. 

A  strictly  nautical  phrase,  in  use  in  Shakespeare's 
time,  meaning  to  bring  the  ship's  head  as  close  to  the 
ivind  as  possible.  Her  position  was  then  said  to  be  "at 
try."  The  special  sails,  provided  for  this  purpose,  are 
stilled  called  try-sails  (try-sis). 

Seb.  A  pox  o'  your  throat,  you  bawling,  blas- 
phemous, incharitable  dog  !* 

*  From  Lat.  in,  not,  caritas,  kind;  severe,  harsh. 
The  modern  English  prefix  un  is  a  regrettable  devia- 
tion from  the  Latin  root. 

Boats.  Work  you  then. 

Ant.  Hang,  cur!  hang,  you  whoreson,  insolent 
noisemaker !  We  are  less  afraid  to  be  drowned  than 
thou  art. 


Act  i.  THE  TEMPEST. 

Gon.  I'll  warrant  him  for  drowning;  though  the 
ship  were  no  stronger  than  a  nutshell  and  as  leaky 
as  an  unstanched  wench. 

Boats.  Lay  her  a-hold,  a-hold  !*  set  her  two 
courses  off  to  sea  again;  lay  her  off.* 

*That  is,  keep  her  close  to  the  wind,  hold  her  to  it. 

*Both  courses,  foresail  as  well  as  mainsail,  are  now  set. 

Enter  MARINERS  wet. 

Mariners.  All  lost !  to  prayers,  to  prayers !  all  lost ! 

Boats.  What,  must  our  mouths  be  cold? 

Gon.  The  king  and  prince  at  prayers  !   let's  assist 
them, 
For  our  case  is  as  theirs. 

Seb.  I'm  out  of  patience. 

Ant.  We  are  merely  cheated  of  our  lives  by  drunk- 
ards : 
This   wide-chapp'd   rascal — would   thou  mightest   lie 

drowning 
The  washing  of  ten  tides ! 

Gon.  He'll  be  hang'd  yet, 

Though  every  drop  of  water  swear  against  it 
And  gape  at  widest  to  glut  him. 
(A  confused  noise  within:  'Mercy  on  us!' — 
'We   split,   we   split!' — 'Farewell   my   wife   and   chil- 
dren !' — 
'Farewell,  brother!' — 'We  split,  we  split,  we  split!') 

Ant.  Let's  all  sink  with  the  king. 

Seb.  Let's  take  leave  of  him. 

(Exeunt  Ant.  and  Seb. 

Gon.  Now  would  I  give  a  thousand  furlongs  of 
sea  for  an  acre  of  barren  ground,  long  heath,  brown 
furze,  any  thing.  The  wills  above  be  done !  but  I 
would  fain  die  a  dry  death.  (Exeunt. 


THE  TEMPEST.  scene  it. 


SCENE  II.— The  island.     Before  Prosperous  cell. 
Enter   PROSPERO*   and   MIRANDA.* 

Mir.  If  by  your  art,*  my  dearest  father,  you  have 
Put  the  wild  waters  in  this  roar,  allay  them. 
The  sky,  it  seems,  would  pour  down  stinking  pitch, 
But  that  the  sea,  mounting  to  the  welkin's  cheek, 
Dashes  the  fire  out.     O,  I  have  suffered 
With  those  that  I  saw  suffer:  a  brave  vessel, 
Who  had,  no  doubt,  some  noble  creature  in  her, 
Dash'd  all  to  pieces.     O,  the  cry  did  knock 
Against  my  very  heart.     Poor  souls,  they  perish'd. 
Had  I  been  any  god  of  power,  I  would 
Have  sunk  the  sea  within  the  earth  or  ere 
It  should  the  good  ship  so  have  swallow'd  and 
The  fraughting  souls  within  her. 

*From  Lat.  prosperare,  make  happy,  to  bless  (man- 
kind). 

*From  Lat.  mirari,  to  admire;  one  to  be  admired,  or, 
as  the  dramatist  himself  defines  the  name,  the  l(top  of 
admiration." 

Cf.  Bacon  :  "The  truth  is  that'  in  some  of  these  fables, 
a-s  well  in  the  texture  of  the  story  as  in  the  propriety  of 
the  very  names  by  which  the  persons  that  figure  in  it 
are  distinguished,  I  find  a  signiftcancy  that  must  be  clear 
to  everybody.  Metis,  Jupiter's  wife,  plainly  means  coun- 
sel; Typhon,  tumult;  Nemesis,  revenge,  and  so  on." — 
Wisdom  of  the  Ancients,  1609. 

*From  Lat.  merum,  wholly. 

*That  is,  by  magic  art,  which  had  its  chief  seat  in 
Jiabylon,  where  it  was  the  reconised  religion  of  the  coun- 
try, with  its  priests  and  ceremonial,  its  purifications, 
sacrifices  and  chants,  and  whence  it  spread  throughout 
the  civilized  world. 

Plato  speaks  of  it  icith  respect,  and  Philo  with  warm 
praise. 

Cf.  Bacon  :  "I  must  here  stipulate  that  the  word  magic, 
ivhich  hos  long  been  used  in  a  bad  sense,  be  restored  to 
its  ancient  and  honorable  meaning.  For  among  the  Per- 
sians magic  was  taken  for  a  sublime  wisdom,  and  a 


Act  i.  THE  TEMPEST. 

knowledge  of  the  universal  consents  of  things;  and  so  the 
three  kings  who  came  from  the  east  to  ivorship  Christ 
were  called  ~by  the  name  of  Magi.  I  understand  it,  how- 
ever, as  the  science  ichich  applies  the  knowledge  of  hid- 
den forms  to  the  operation  of  nature." 

That  is,  the  poivers  over  nature  attributed  to  Pros- 
per o  by  his  daughter  and  by  the  dramatist  himself  in  the 
play  are  those,  that  once  belonged  to  the  Eastern  magi- 
cians and  were  said  by  Bacon  to  have  been  "ancient  and 
honorable."  Notable  instances  of  their  exercise,  consid- 
ered in  Shakespeare's  time  as  historical,  are  narrated  in 
Geneisis,  in  connection  witli  the  departure  of  the  Israel- 
ites from  Egypt. 

Pros.  Be  collected : 

No  more  amazement:  tell  your  piteous  heart 
There's  no  harm  done. 

Mir.  O,  woe  the  day ! 

Pros.  No  harm. 

I  have  done  nothing  but  in  care  of  thee, 
Of  thee,  my  dear  one,  thee,  my  daughter,  who 
Art  ignorant  of  what  thou  art,  nought  knowing 
Of  whence  I  am,  nor  that  I  am  more  better 
Than  Prospero,  master  of  a  full  poor  cell,* 
And  thy  no  greater  father. 

*Cf.  Bacon :  "Your  beadsman  therefore  addresseth  him- 
self to  your  Majesty  for  a  cell  to  retire  unto." — Letter  to 
the  King,  25  March,  1623. 

The  cell  that  Bacon  derived  was  the  Provostship  of 
Eton.  "Full  poor"  means,  poor  to  the  utmost. 

Mir.  More  to  know 

Did  never  meddle  with  my  thoughts. 

Pros.  'Tis  time 

I  should  inform  thee  farther.     Lend  thy  hand, 
And  pluck  my  magic  garment  from  me.     So : 

(Lays  down  his  mantle. 
Lie  there,  my  art.*     Wipe  thou  thine  eyes ;     have 

comfort. 

The   direful   spectacle  of  the  wreck,   which   touch'd 
The  very  virtue  of  compassion  in  thee, 
I  have  with  such  provision  in  mine  art 
So  safely  ordered  that  there  is  no  soul — 
No,  not  so  much  perdition*  as  an  hair 
Betid  to  any  creature  in  the  vessel 
6 


THE  TEMPEST.  scene  n. 

Which  thou  heard'st  cry,  which  thou  saw'st  sink. 

Sit  down ; 
For  thou  must  now  know  farther. 

Cf.  Thomas  Fuller :  "Lord  Treasurer  Burleigh,  when  he 
put  off  his  robe  of  office  at  night,  used  to  say,  'lie  there, 
Lord  Treasurer':1 — The  Holy  State,  1648. 

Burleigh  was  Bacon's  uncle.     He  became  Lord  High 
Treasurer  in  1578,  when  Francis  was  eleven  years  old. 
*From  Lat.  perdere,  to  lose. 

Mir.  You  have  often 

Begun  to  tell  me  what  I  am,  but  stopp'd 
And  left  me  to  a  bootless  inquisition, 
Concluding  'Stay :  not  yet.' 

Pros.  The  hour's  now  come; 

The  very  minute  bids  thee  ope  thine  ear; 
Obey  and  be  attentive.    Canst  thou  remember 
A  time  before  we  came  unto  this  cell? 
I  do  not  think  thou  canst,  for  then  thou  wast  not 
Out  three  years  old. 

Mir.  Certainly,  sir,  I  can. 

Pros.  By  what?  by  any  other  house  or  person? 
Of  any  thing  the  image  tell  me*  that 
Hath  kept  with  thy  remembrance. 

*Prospero  asks  his  daughter  to  give  him  the  image  of 
anything  she  remembers  of  that  early  time,,  knowing  that 
images  cling  the  most  tenaciously  to  the  memory. 

Cf.  Bacon :  "An  object  of  sense  always  strikes  the 
memory  more  forcibly  and  is  more  easily  impressed  upon 
it  than  an  object  of  the  intellect;  insomuch  that  even 
brutes  have  their  memory  excited  by  sensible  impressions; 
never  by  intellectual  ones.  And  therefore  you  will  more 
easily  remember  the  image  of  a  hunter  pursuing  a  hare, 
of  an  apothecary  arranging  his  boxes,  of  a  pedant  mak- 
ing a  speech,  of  a  boy  repeating  verses  from  memory,  of 
a  player  acting  on  a  stage,  than  the  mere  notions  of  in- 
vention, disposition,  elocution,  memory  and  action." — 
S.  Augmentis,  1623.  . 

Mir.  T'is  far  off 

And  rather  like  a  dream  than  an  assurance 
That  my  remembrance  warrants.     Had  I  not 
Four  or  five  women  once  that  tended  me? 

Pros.  Thou  hadst,  and  more,  Miranda.     But  how 
is  it 


Act  i.  THE  TEMPEST. 

That  this  lives  in  thy  mind?     What  seest  thou  else 
In  the  dark  backward  and  abysm  of  time? 
If  thou  remember'st  aught  ere  thou  earnest  here, 
How  thou  earnest  here  thou  mayst. 

Mir.  But  that  I  do  not. 

Pros.  Twelve    year    since,    Miranda,    twelve    year 

since, 

Thy  father  was  the  Duke  of  Milan  and 
A  prince  of  power. 

Mir.  Sir,  are  you  not  my  father? 

Pros.  Thy  mother  was  a  piece  of  virtue,  and 
She  said  thou  wast  my  daughter ;  and  thy  father 
Was  Duke  of  Milan;  and  thou  his  only  heir 
And  princess  no  worse  issued. 

Mir.  O  the  heavens  !* 

What  foul  play  had  we,  that  we  came  from  thence? 
Or  blessed  was  't  we  did? 

*Cf.  Bacon  :    "Othe." — Promus. 

It  is  fair  to  assume  that  entries  in  Bacon's  memoran- 
dum book,  which  are  commonplace  now,  were  not  so, 
when  they  were  made,  more  than  300  years  ago.  If  used 
"both  ~by  Shakespeare  and  by  Bacon  in  public  works,  they 
naturally  passed  into  familiar  speech. 

Pros.  Both,  both,  my  girl : 

By  foul  play,  as  thou  say'st,  were  we  heaved  thence, 
But  blessedly  hope*  hither 

*The  old  preterit  of  the  serf,  to  help. 

Mir.  O  my  heart  bleeds 

To  think  o'  the  teen*  that  I  have  turn'd  you  to, 
Which  is  from  my  remembrance !     Please  you,  far- 
ther. 

*  Sorrow, 

Pr.  My   brother   and   thy   uncle,    call'd   Antonio — 
I  pray  thee,  mark  me — that  a  brother  should 
Be  so  perfidious ! — he  whom  next  thyself 
Of  all  the  world  I  loved  and  to  him  put 
The  manage  of  my  state !  as  at  that  time 
Through  all  the  signories  it  was  the  first* 
And  Prospero  the  prime  duke,  being  so  reputed 
In  dignity,  and  for  the  liberal  arts 
8 


THE  TEMPEST.  scene  n. 

Without  a  parallel;  those  being  all  my  study, 
The  government  I  cast  upon  my  brother 
And  to  my  state  grew  stranger  :*  being  transported 
And  rapt  in  secret  studies.*     Thy  false  uncle — 
Dost  thou  attend  me? 

*Milan  claimed  at  that  time  to  ~be  the  first  duchy  in 
I :  it  rope. 

*Cf.  Bacon  :  "Men,  eminent  in  rirtue,  often  abandon 
their  fortunes  willingly,  that  then  ?><".'/  hare  leisure  for 
lii (/her  pursuits." — Advancement  of  Learning. 

*Cf.  Bacon  :  "In  these  studies  I  am  wholly  a  pioneer, 
following  in  no  man's  footsteps  and  communicating  my 
thoughts  or  discoveries  to  no  one." — \orum  Organum, 
1620. 

Cf.  James  Russell  Lowell:  "In  Prospcro  xliall  ire  not 
recognize  the  artist  himself?" 

Mir.  Sir,   most   needfully. 

Pros.  Being  once  perfected  how  to  grant  suits, 
How  to  deny  them,  who  to  advance  and  who 
To  trash  for  over-topping,*  new  created 
The  creatures  that  were  mine,  I  say,  or  changed  'em, 
Or  else  new  form'd  'em ;  having  both  the  key 
Of  officer  and  office,  set  all  hearts  i'  the  state 
To  what  tune  pleased  his  ear  ;*  that  now  he  was 
The  ivy  which  had  hid  my  princely  trunk, 
And  suck'd  my  verdure  out  on  't*     Thou  attend'st 

not. 

*Cf.  Bacon  :  "To  grant  all  suits  were  to  undo  yourself 
or  your  people;  to  dcni/  all  suits  were  to  see  never  a  con- 
tented face." — Letter  to  the  King. 

"Believe  me.  Sir,  next  to  the  obtaining  of  the  suit,  a 
speedy  and  gentle  denial  is  the  most  acceptable  to  suit- 
ors."— Letters  to  Villiers. 

Cf.  Bacon  :  "There  is  use  also  of  ambitious  men  in 
pulling  down  the  greatness  of  (that  is.  to  trash)  any  sub- 
ject that  overtops." — Essay  of  Ambition. 

The  metaphor  is  derived  from  the  science  of  garden- 
ing. 

*This  change  in  the  disposition  of  the  Duke's  subjects 
is  called  a  new  creation. 

Cf.  Bacon  :  "On  a  given  body  to  generate  and  super- 
induce a  new  nature  or  new  natures  is  the  work  and  aim 
of  human  power." — Novum  Organum. 

The  dramatist  ivas  very  fond,  of  comparing  the  parts 
played  by  different  classes  of  citizens  in  a  state  to  chords 
in  music,  e.  g. : 


Act  i.  THE  TEMPEST. 

"For  government,  thougJi  high,  and  low,  and  lower, 

Put  into  parts^doth  keep  in  one  consent, 

Congreeing  in  a  -full  and  natural  close, 

Like  music." — King  Henry  V.,  I.,  2. 

Cf.  Bacon :  "Nero  could  touch  and  tune  the  harp 
well;  tut  in  government,  sometimes  he  used  to  wind  the 
pins  too  high,  sometimes  to  let  them  down  too  low." — 
Essay  of  Empire. 

*Cf.  Bacon  :  "It  icas  ordained  that  this  winding  ivy 
of  a  Plantagenet  should  kill  the  tree  itself." — History  of 
King  Henry  VII.,  submitted  to  the  King  Oct.  8,  1681. 
Vid.  Shedding* 's  Letters  and  Life  of  Francis  Bacon  (Lon- 
don, 1868);  Vol.  VII.,  p.  302. 

Mir.  O,  good  sir,  I  do. 

Pros.  I  pray  thee,  mark  me. 

I,  thus  neglecting  worldly  ends,  all  dedicated 
To  closeness  and  the  bettering  of  my  mind 
With  that  which,  but  by  being  so   retired, 
O'er-prized  all  popular  rate,  in  my  false  brother 
Awaked  an  evil  nature;  and  my  trust, 
Like  a  good  parent,  did  beget  of  him 
A  falsehood*  in  its  contrary  as  great 
As  my  trust  was ;  which  had  indeed  no  limit, 
A  confidence  sans  bound.     He  being  thus  lorded, 
Not  only  with  what  my  revenue  yielded, 
But  what  my  power  might   else  exact;   like  one 
Who  having  into  tiuth,  by  telling  of  it, 
Made  such  a  sinner  of  his  memory, 
To  credit  his  own  lie,  he  did  believe 
He  was  indeed  the  duke;*  out  o'  the  substitution, 
And  executing  the  outward  face  of  royalty, 
With  all  prerogative :  hence  his  ambition  growing — 
Dost  thou  hear? 

*Cf.  Bacon  :  "You  cannot  find  an)/  man  of  rare  f  elicit  it 
"but  either  he  died  childless — or  else  he  was  unfortunate 
in  his  children. — Praise  of  Queen  Elizabeth.  1608. 

Also  :  "They  that  are  fortunate  in  other  things  are 
commonly  unfortunate  in  children,  lest  men  should  come 
too  near  the  condition  of  Gods." — De  Angmentis. 

*Cf.  Bacon  :  "It  was  generally  Relieved,  that  he  was  in- 
deed Duke  Richard.  Nay,  himself,  ivith  long  and  con- 
tinual counterfeiting  and  with  oft  telling  a  lie,  was  turned 
"by  habit  almost  into  the  thing  lie  seemed  to  be;  and 
from  a  liar  into  a  believer." — History  of  Henry  VII. 

This  sentiment  is  found  in  Tacitus,  but  not  the  con- 

10 


THE  TEMPEST.  Scene  n. 

dition  precedent  that  the  lie  must  be  told  oft  before   it 

can  become  a  belief.  

"Telling  oft." — Shakespeare. 

"Oft  telling/' — Bacon. 

"He  was    indeed    the    Duke." — Shakespeare. 
"He  was  indeed  Duke  Richard." — Bacon. 

Mir.  Your  tale,  sir,  would  cure  deafness.* 

*Cf.   Bacon  :  "To  cure  deafness  is  difficult." — Promus. 
Also :    "Nothing  is  so   hard  to  cure  as   the  ear."  De 
Augmentis. 

Pros.  To   have  no   screen*  between  this   part   he 

play'd 

And  him  he  play'd  it  for,  he  needs  will  be 
Absolute  Milan.     Me,  poor  man,  my  library 
Was  dukedom  large  enough :   of  temporal  royalties 
He  thinks  me  now  incapable;*  confederates — 
So  dry  he  was  for  sway — wi'  the  King  of  Naples 
To  give  him  annual  tribute,  do  him  homage, 
Subject  his  coronet  to  his  crown  and  bend 
The  dukedom  yet  unbow'd — alas,  poor  Milan ! — 
To  most  ignoble  stooping. 

*Cf.  Bacon  :  "There  is  great  use  in  ambitious  men  in 
being  screens  to  princes  in  matters  of  danger  and  envy." 
— Essay  of  Ambition. 

In  the  case  described  in  the  text  the  usurper  made 
the  Duke  himself  a  screen  until  his  own  power  became 
established. 

*A  strictly  Latin  and  legal  sense  of  the  word  incapable, 
from  in,  privative,  and  capere,  to  hold,,  or  adminster. 
Without  necessary  qualifications. 

Mir.  O  the    heavens  ! 

Pros.  Mark  his  condition  and  the  event;  then  tell 

me 
If  this  might  be  a  brother. 

Mir.  I  should  sin 

To  think  but  nobly  of  my  grandmother : 
Good  wombs  have  borne  bad  sons. 

Pros.  Now  the  condition. 

This  King  of  Naples,  being  an  enemy 
To  me  inveterate,  hearkens  my  brother's  suit; 
Which  was,  that  he,  in  lieu  o'  the  premises 
Of  homage  and  I  know  not  how  much  tribute, 
ii 


Act  i.  THE  TEMPEST. 

Should  presently  extirpate  me  and  mine 
Out  of  the  dukedom  and  confer  fair  Milan 
With  all  the  honours  on  my  brother :  whereon, 
A   treacherous   army   levied,   one   midnight 
Fated  to  the  purpose  did  Antonio  open 
The  gates  of  Milan,  and,  i'  the  dead  of  darkness, 
The  ministers  for  the  purpose  hurried  thence 
Me  and  thy  crying  self. 

Mir.  Alack,  for  pity  ! 

I,   not  remembering  how  I  ^cried  out  then, 
Will  cry  it  o'er  again :  it  is  a  hint 
That  wrings  mine  eyes  to  't. 

Pros.  Hear  a  little  further 

And  then  I  will  bring  thee  to  the  present  business 
Which  now's  upon  's ;  without  the  which  this  story 
Were  most  impertinent.* 

*From  in,  not,   and  pertinere,  to   obtain;  that  is,  not 
pertinent. 

Mir.  Wherefore  did  they  not 

That  hour  destroy  us? 

Pros.  Well   demanded,  wench:* 

My  tale  provokes  that  question.     Dear,   they  durst 

not, 

So  dear  the  love  my  people  bore  me,  nor  set 
A  mark  so  bloody  on  the  business,  but 
With  colours  fairer  painted  their  foul  ends. 
In  few,  they  hurried  us  aboard  a  bark, 
Bore  us  some  leagues  to  sea;  where  they  prepared 
A  rotten  carcass  of  a  boat,  not  rigg'd, 
Nor  tackle,  sail,  nor  mast;  the  very  rats 
Instinctively  had  quit  it  ;*  there  they  hoist  us, 
To  cry  to  the  sea  that  roar'd  to  us,  to  sigh 
To  the  winds  whose  pity,  sighing  back  again, 
Did  us  but  loving  wrong. 

*A  young  woman,  a  word  used  in  ShaJtespeare's   time 
in  a  good  sense. 

*  Alone,  weak. 

*Cf.   Bacon:    "It  is   the  wisdom   of  rats   that  will  be 
sure  to  leave  a  house  before  it  fall." — Essay  of  Wisdom. 

Mir.  Alack,  what  trouble 

Was  I  then  to  you ! 

12 


THE  TEMPEST.  scene  n. 

Pros.  O,  a  cherubin* 

Thou  wast  that  did  preserve  me.     Thou  didst  smile, 
Infused  with  a  fortitude  from  heaven, 
When  I  have  deck'd*  the  sea  with  drops  full  salt, 
Under  my  burthen  groan'd;  which  raised  in  me 
An  undergoing  stomach,  to  bear  up 
Against  what  should  ensue. 

*A    corrupt   form   of   the   word   cherub. 
Cf.  Bacon  :    "It  would  have  appeared  to  him  in  the 
likeness  of  a  fair,  beautiful  cherubim." — New  Atlantis. 

*Probably  a  form  of  the  old  word  degg,  to  sprinkle. 

Mir.  How  came  we  ashore? 

Pros.  By  providence  divine. 
Some  food  we  had  and  some  fresh  water  that 
A  noble  Neapolitan,  Gonzalo, 
Out  of  his  charity,*  being  than  appointed 
Master  of  this  design,  did  give  us,  with 
Rich  garments,  linens,  stuffs  and  necessaries, 
Which  since  have  steadied  much ;  so,  of  his  gentle- 
ness, 

Knowing  I  loved  my  bopks,  he  furnish'd  me 
From  mine  own  library*  with  volumes  that 
I  prize  above  my  dukedom. 

*From  Lat.  caritas,  brother  love;  love  all  other  hu- 
man beings  as  children  of  a  common  parentage. 

<(And  the  greatest  of  these  is  charity." 
Cf.  Bacon :  "It  is  a  good  rule  in  translation,  never  to 
confound  that  in  one  word  in  the  translation  which  is 
precisely  distinguished  in  two  words  in  the  original.  r<>r 
an  example  of  this  kind,  I  did  ever  alloio  the  discretion 
and  tenderness  of  the  Rhenish  translation  in  this  point; 
that,  finding  in  the  original  the  word  aydwrj  and  never  epas, 
do  ever  translate  charity  and  never  love,  because  of  the  indiffer- 
ence and  equivocation  of  the  latter  ivord." 

*No  evidence  exists  to  show  that  William  Shakespeare 
of  Stratford  owned  a  library.  Several  of  the  Shakespeare 
plays  had  already  been  printed  at  the  date  of  his  retire- 
ment to  Stratford,  where  passed  the  remaining  ttrclre 
years  of  his  life,  but  neither  he  himself  nor  his  fatniln 
seems  to  have  possessed  a  copy  of  any  one  of  them.  He 
made  an  elaborate  ivill,  specifying  various  kinds  of  prop- 
erty, but  mentioning  no  book. 

"In   Protspero  Shakespeare  typified  himself." — Thomas 
Campbell. 

13 


Act  i.  THE  TEMPEST. 

"In  Prospero  the  poet  is  all  Jiis  characters  and  him- 
self too." — Denton  J.  Snider. 

"In  Prospero  shall  we  not  recognize  the  Artist  him- 
eelf?" — James  Russell  Lawell. 

Mir.  Would  I  might 

But  ever  see  that  man ! 

Pros.  Now  I  arise :    (Resumes  his  mantle. 

Sit  still,  and  hear  the  last  of  our  sea-sorrow. 
Here  in  this  island  we  arrived;  and  here 
Have  I,  thy  schoolmaster,  made  thee  more  profit* 
Than  other  princesses  can*  that  have  more  time 
For  vainer  hours  and  tutors  not  so  careful. 

*Cf.  Bacon  :  "Princes  also  are  brought  up  in  the  reign- 
ing house  with  assured  expectation  of  succeeding  to  the 
throne;  are  commonly  spoiled  ~by  the  indulgence  and 
licence  of  their  education." — In  felicem  memoriam  Eliza- 
bethae.  Probably  1608.  Vid.  Shedding- 's  Letters  and  Life 
of  Francis  Bacon  (London,  1868)  ;  vol.  IV.,  p.  107. 

*Used  in  a  sense  now  obselete,  meaning  to  have  poiver  ; 
not  as  an  auxiliary  verb,  modifying  another  understood. 
Cf.  Bacon  :    "In  evil  the  best  condition  is,  not  to  will; 
the  second,  not  to  can." — Essay  of  Great  Place. 

Mir.  Heavens  thank  yousfor't!     And  now,  I  pray 

you,  sir, 

For  still  'tis  beating  in  my  mind,  your  reason 
For  raising  this  sea-storm? 

Pros.  Know  thus   far  forth. 

By  accident  most  strange,  bountiful  Fortune, 
Now  my  dear  lady,  hath  mine  enemies 
Brought  to  this  shore;  and  by  my  prescience 
I  find  my  zenith  doth  depend  upon 
A  most  auspicious  star,  whose  influence* 
If  now  I  court  not  but  omit,  my  fortunes 
Will  ever  after  droop.*    Here  cease  more  questions : 
Thou  art  inclined  tc  sleep ;  't  is  a  good  dulness, 
And  give  it  way ;  I  know  thou  canst  not  choose. 

(Miranda  sleeps* 

Come  away,  servant,  come.     I  am  ready  now. 
Approach,  my  Ariel,  come. 

*From  Lat.  influere,  to  flow  into.  The  stars  were  sup- 
posed to  affect  the  earth  and  its  inhabitants  by  an  ac- 
tual emission  of  some  kind  through  space. 

14 


•  rJ  M 
U  W 

•  -CJ  fc 

•  CB  W 

•   p  a 


THE  TEMPEST.  scene  n» 

Cf.  Bacon  :    "1  hold  it  for  certain  that   the  celestial 
bodies   have  in   them   other  influences    besides    heat   and 
I  if/ ft  t. — D  c  A  it  o  mentis, 
*Gf.  "Julius  Caesar": 

"We  mast  take  the  current  ivlicn  it  serves, 
Or  lose  our  ventures." — IV.,  3 

Also,  Bacon  :  "They  have  their  periods  of  time,  within 
which,  if  they  be  not  taken,  they  vanish."- — Charge 
(Hjdinxt  Owen. 

*tfhc  is  put  to  sleep  by  her  father's  art,  exercised  upon 
her   irithout  the  intermediation  of  the  senses. 

Cf.  Bacon :  "Fascination  is  the  power  and  act  of  the 
imagination  intensive  upon  the  body  of  another,  exalted 
hit  Paracelsus  and  by  the  disciples  of  natural  magic  a* 
to  be  one  with  the  power  of  miracle-working  faith.  Oth- 
er*, that  draw  nearer  to  probability,  looking  with  a 
clearer  eye  at  the  secret  ivorking  and  impressions  of 
things,  the  irradiations  of  the  senses,  the  passages  of 
contagion  from  body  to  body,  the  conveyance  of  mag- 
netic virtues,  have  concluded  it  to  be  a  power  communi- 
cated from  spirit  to  spirit,  after  the  manner  of  mastering 
spirit,  of  men  unlucky  and  ill-omened,  of  the  glances  of 
love,  envy,  and  the  like." — De  Augmentis. 

Students  of  this  play  will  constantly  observe  that 
Prnxncro  is  endowed  with  poioers  seemingly  supernatural, 
but  that  these  powers  are  regarded  by  Bacon  as  ivithin 
the  province  of  art  as  legitimately  to  be  developed. 

Enter  ARIEL. 

Ari.  All  hail,  great,  master !  grave  sir,  hail !  I  come 
To  answer  thy  best  pleasure ;  be  't  to  fly, 
To  swim,  to  dive  into  the  fire,  to  ride 
On  the  curl'd  clouds,  to  thy  strong  bidding  task 
Ariel  and  all  his  quality. 

Pros.  Hast  thoit,  spirit, 

Performed  to  point*  the  tempest  that  I  bade  thee? 

*From  the  French  a  point,  in  every  particular. 
»  Ari.  To  every  article. 

I  boarded  the  king's  ship;  now  on  the  beak,* 
Now  in  the  waist;*  the  deck,  in  every  cabin,* 
I  flamed  amazement  :*  sometime  I  'Id  divide, 
And  burn  in  many  places ;  on  the  topmast, 
The   yards   and   the   bowsprit,*  would   I   flame   dis- 
tinctly, 

Then    meet   and    join.      Jove's    lightnings,    the    pre- 
cursors 

15 


Acti.  THE  TEMPEST. 

O'  the  dreadful  thunder-claps,  more  momentary 
And  sight  out-running  were  not;  the  fire  and  cracks 
Of  sulphurous  roaring  the  most  mighty  Neptune 
Seem  to  besiege  and  make  his  bold  waves  tremble, 
Yea,  his  dread  trident  shake. 

*Cf.  Bacon :  "The  ball  of  fire,  called  Castor  by  the  an- 
cients, that  appears  at  sea,  if  it  be  single,  prognosticates 
a  severe  storm  (seeing  it  is  Castor,  the  dead  brother), 
which  will  be  much  more  severe  if  the  ball  does  not  ad- 
here to  the  mast,  but  rolls  and  dances  about.  But  if 
there  be  two  of  them  (that  is,  if  Pollux,  the  licing 
brother,  be  present)  and  that,  too,  when  the  storm  lias 
increased,  it  is  reckoned  a  good  sign.  But  if  there  are 
three  of  them  (that  is,  if  Helen,  the  general  scourge,  ar- 
rive), the  storm  will  become  more  fearful.  The  fact 
seems  to  be,  that  one  by  itself  appears  to  indicate  that 
the  tempestuous  matter  is  crude;  that  it  is  prepared  and 
ripened;  hree  or  more,  that  so  great  a  quantity  is  col- 
lected as  can  hardly  be  dispersed/' — History  of  the  Winds. 

Ariel  flames  about  the  ship  after  the  manner  of  St. 
Elmo's  fire,  described  by  Bacon;  that  is,  as  a  luminous 
meteor  or  meteors,  to  which  in  ancient  times  sailors  ap- 
plied the  names  of  Castor,  Pollux  and  Helena.  According 
to  Pliny,  who  gives  an  account  of  it,  one  of  these  n><  t<- 
ors,  appearing  Kingly  on  the  masts  or  rigging  of  a  vessel, 
presses'  a  storm;  if  two  appear,  they  presage  fair 
wcatner.  So  far,  Bacon  agrees  with  Pliny;  but  he  adds, 
perhaps  as  his  own  contribution  to  the  myth,  that  if 
th^ee  or  more  make  their  appearance  and  dance  about, 
the  storm  will  rage  ivith  greater  violence  still,  and 
threaten  the  destruction  of  the  ship. 

It  will  be  noticed  that  the  dramatist  follows  Ka<-on 
rather  than  Pliny.  Ariel's  mission  was  to  destroy  the 
ship  in  a  tempest,  and,  he  accomplished  the  task,  report- 
ing to  Prospero  that  he  "burned  in  many  places,"  simul- 
taneously mentioning  three, — 

"on  the  topmast, 
The  yards  and  bowsprit/' 

It  will  be  noticed,  also,  that  in  the  play,  seemingly 
in  compliance  with  another  one  of  Bacon's  special  prog- 
nostications, the  balls  of  fire  "roll  and  dance  about  \" 

"No iv  on  the  beak, 
Now  in  the  ivaist,  the  deck,  in  every  cabin." 

*  Separately. 

Pros.  My  brave   spirit ! 

Who  was  so  firm,  so  constant,  that  this  coil 
Would  not  infect  his  reason? 

Ari  Not  a  soul 

But  felt  a  fever  of  the  mad  and  play'd 

16 


THE  TEMPEST.  scene  n. 

Some  tricks  of  desperation.     All  but  mariners 
Plunged  in  the  foaming  brine  and  quit  the  vessel, 
Then  all  afire  with  me:  the  king's  son,  Ferdinand, 
With   hair   up-staring, — then   like   reeds,   not   hair, — 
Was  the  first  man  that  leap'd;  cried,  'Hell  is  empty, 
And  all  the  devils  are  here.' 

Pros.  Why,  that's  my  spirit ! 

But  was  not  this  nigh  shore? 

Ari.  Close  by,  my  master. 

Pros.  But  are  they,  Ariel,  safe? 

Ari.  Not  a  hair  perish'd; 

On  their  sustaining  garments  not  a  blemish, 
But  fresher  than  before :  and,  as  thou  badest  me, 
In  troops  I  have  dispersed  them  'bout  the  isle. 
The  king's  son  have  I  landed  by  himself; 
Whom  I  left  cooling  of  the  air  with  sighs 
In  an  odd  angle  of  the  isle  and  sitting, 
His  arms  in  this  sad  knot. 

Pros.  Of  the  king's  ship 

The  mariners  say  how  thou  hast  disposed 
And  all  the  rest  o'  the  fleet. 

.   Ari.  Safely  in  harbour 

Is  the  king's  ship ;  in  the  deep  nook,  where  once 
Thou  call'dst  me  up  at  midnight  to  fetch  the  dew 
From  the  still-vex'd  Bermoothes,*  there  she's   hid : 
The  mariners  all  under  hatches  stow'd; 
Who,  with  a  charm  join'd  to  their  suffered  labour, 
I  have  left  asleep :  and  for  the  rest  o'  the  fleet 
Which  I  dispersed,  they  all  have  met  again 
And  are  upon  the  Mediterranean  flote,* 
Bound  sadly  home  for  Naples, 
Supposing  that  they  saw  the  king's  ship  wreck'd 
And  his  great  person  perish. 

*  Always  vext. 

The  Spanish  name  of  the  Bermudas. 
"The  Spaniards  dislike  thin   letters  and  change  them 
immediately  into  those  of  a  middle  tone." — De  Augmentis. 
This  accounts  for  the  softening  sound  of  the  letter  d> 
in  the  name  of  the  islands   to   thatofth.     Evidently   the 
dramatist  had  some  acquaintance  with  the  principles  of 
the  Spanish  language,  as  Bacon  had. 

17 


Act  i.  THE  TEMPEST. 

The  terms  of  this  Reference  plainly  show  that  the 
author  did  not  intend  to  locate  the  scene  of  "The  Tem- 
pest" here.  He  did  not  intend  to  locate  it  anywhere.  It 
is  wholly  a  ivork  of  imagination. 

*Wave,  from,  French  flot. 
Of.  Bacon : — 

"Your  rock  claims  kindred  of  the  polar  star, 
Because  it  draws  the  needle  to  the  North; 
Yet  even  that  star  gives  place  to  Cynthia's  rays, 
Whose  drawing  virtues  govern  and  direct 
The  flots  and  re-flots  of  the  ocean." 

— Gray's  Inn  Masque. 

Pros.  Ariel,  thy  charge 

Exactly  is  perform'd :  but  there's  more  work. 
What  is  the  time  o'  the  day? 

Ari.  Past  the  mid  season. 

Pros.  At  least  two  glasses.*     The  time  'twixt  six 

and  now 
Must  by  us  both  be  spent  most  preciously. 

*In  the  nautical  usage  of  Shakespear's  time,  as  well 
as  of  our  own,  the  "glass"  measured  a  half  hour,  hut 
Shakespeare,  to  the  distress  of  his  commentators,  used  it 
for  one  hour.  He  conformed  to  the  requirements  of  pop- 
ular speech.  The  drama  is  not  science. 

Cf.  Bacon:  "I  wax  now  somewhat  ancient;  one  and 
thirty  years  is  a  great  deal  of  sand  in  the  Jiour-glass." — 
Letter  to  Burleigh,  1591. 

Ari.  Is  there  more  toil?     Since  thou  dost  give  me 

pains, 

Let  me  remember  thee  what  thou  hast  promised, 
Which  is  not  yet  perform'd  me. 

Pros.  How  now?  moody? 

What  is  't  thou  canst  demand? 

Ari.  My  liberty. 

Pros.  Before  the  time  be  out?  no  more! 

Ari.  I  prithee, 

Remember  I  have  done  thee   worthy  service; 
Told  thee  no  lies,  made  thee  no  mistakings,  served 
Without  or  grudge  or  grumblings :  thou  didst  prom- 
ise 
To  bate  me  a  full  year. 

Pros.  Dost  thou  forget 

From  what  a  torment  I  did  free  thee? 

18 


THE  TEMPEST.  scene  u. 

An.  No. 

Pros.  Thou  dost,  and  thnk'st  it  much  to  tread  the 

ooze 

Of  the  salt  deep, 

To  run  upon  the  sharp  wind  of  the  north, 
To  do  me  business  in  the  veins  o'  the  earth 
When  it  is  baked  with  frost.* 

*Among  the  physicists  of  Shakespeare's  day,  down  to 
1603,  belief  in  the  existence  of  a  mass  of  molten  matter 
at  the  centre  of  the  earth  seems  to  have  been  in  England 
•n  ni  re  run  I.  The  phenomena  of  earthquakes,  volcanoes  and 
gysers  were  evidences  too  powerful  apparently  to  be  re- 
sistd.  But  in  1603  two  persons  took  the  opposite  vietv. 
One  of  these  was  Shakespeare.  In  that  year  the  first 
•  edition  of  "Hamlet"  came  from  the  press,  and  ivith  it 
the  author's  adhesion  to  the  old  theory  regarding  the  in- 
terior of  the  earth.  In  the  second  edition,  published  one 
year  later,  the  doctrine  was  eliminated  from  the  play. 
The  two  statments  were  as  followss — 

1603.  "Doubt  that  in  earth  is  fire, 
Doubt  that  the  stafs  do  move, 
Doubt  truth  to  be  a  liar, 

But  do  not  doubt  I  love.  — II.,  2,  116. 

1604.  "Doubt  thou  the  stars  are  fire, 
Doubt  that  the  sun  doth  move, 
Doubt  truth  to  be  a  liar, 

But  never  doubt  I  love." 

It  will  thus  be  seen  that  the  doctrine  in  question  lost 
its  place  in  the  author's  list  of  scientific  certainties  some- 
time in  1603-4.  Nine  years  later,  when  "The  Tempest"' 
was  written,  the  change  in  the  author's  mind  on  this  sub- 
ject had  become  complete,  for  we  there  read,  as  above, 
that  the  veins  of  the  earth  are  "baked  with  frost." 

Th  other  person  referred  to  was  Francis  Bacon.  And, 
what  is  remarkable,  the  dissent  in  his  case  from  the  pop- 
ular vieiv  dates  from  the  same  precise  time  as  in  that  of 
Shakespeare;  that  is  to  say,  from  the  latter  part  of  1603 
or  the  early  part  of  1604  :  we  find  it  in  a  philosophical 
treatise  written,  probably,  before  September,  1604.  In 
another  respect,  also,  Bacon's  experience  resembles 
Shakespeare's,  for  his  conviction  grew  stronger  as  the 
years  went  by.  Indeed,  he  finally  declared  that  in  his 
judgment  the  interior  of  the  earth  is  the  originl  and  only 
source  of  cold  in  the  entire  universe.  He  said : — 

"The  heaven,  from  its  perfect  and  absolute  heat  and 
the  extreme  expansion  of  matter,  is  most  hot,  lucid,  rare- 
fied, and  moveable;  whereas  the  earth,  on  the  contrary, 
from  its  absolute  and  unrefracted  cold,  and  the  extreme 
contraction  of  matter,  is  most  cold,  dark,  and  dense,  com- 
pletely immovable.  The  rigors  of  cold,  ivhich  in  icinter 

19 


Act  i.  THE  TEMPEST. 

tune  and  in  the  coldest  countries  are  exhaled  into  the 
<iir  front  the  surface  of  the  earth,  are  'merely  tepid  airs 
and  baths,  compared  with  the  nature  of  the  primal  cold 
shut  up  in  the  bowels  thereof." — De  Principiis  atque 
Originibus. 

The  phrase  "baked  with  frost"  illustrates  the  well- 
known  saying  that  extremes  meet. 

Cf.  "Hamlet"  :  "Frost  itself  as  actively  doth  burn." — 
///.,  4. 

Also,  Bacon  :    "Frost  burns." — Promus. 

Ari.  I  do  not,  sir. 

Pros.  Thou    liest,    malignant    thing !      Hast    thou 

forgot 

The  foul  witch  Sycorax,  who  with  age  and  envy 
Was  grown  into  a  hoop?  hast  thou  forgot  her? 

Ari.  No,  sir. 

Pros.  Thou  hast.     Where  was  she  born? 

speak;  tell  me. 

Ari.  Sir,  in  Argier. 

Pros.  O,  was  she  so?     I  must 

Once  in  a  month  recount  what  thou  hast  been, 
Which  thou  forget'st.     This  damn'd  witch  Sycorax, 
For  mischiefs  manifold  and  sorceries  terrible 
To  enter  human  hearing,  from  Argier,* 
Thou  know'st,  was  banish'd :  for  one  thing  she  did 
They  would  not  take  her  life.     Is  not  this  true? 
*An  old  form  of  the  name  Algiers. 

Ari.  Ay,  sir. 

Pros.  This  blue-eyed  hag  was  hither  brought  with 

child 

And  here  was  left  by  the  sailors.    Thou,  my  slave, 
As  thou  report'st  thyself,  wast  then  her  servant; 
And,  for  thou  wast  a  spirit  too  delicate 
To  act  her  earthy     and  abhorr'd  commands, 
Refusing  her  grand  hests,  she  did  confine  thee, 
By  help  of  her  more  potent  ministers 
And  in  her  most  immitigable  rage, 
Into  a  cloven  pine ;  within  which  rift 
Imprison'd  thou  didst  painfully  remain 
A  dozen  years ;  within  which  space  she  died 


THE  TEMPEST.  scene  n. 

And    left    thee    there;    where    thou    didst    vent    thy 

groans 

As  fast  as  mill-wheels  strike.   Then  was  this  island — 
Save  for  the  son  that  she  did  litter  here, 
A  freckled  whelp  hag-born — not  honour'd  with 
A  human  shape. 

Art.  Yes,  Caliban  her  son. 

Pros.  Dull  thing,  I  say  so ;  he,  that  Caliban 
Whom  now  I  keep  in  service.     Thou  best  know'st 
What  torment  I  did  find  thee  in ;  thy  groans 
Did  make  wolves  howl  and  penetrate  the  breasts 
Of  ever  angry  bears  :  it  was  a  torment 
To  lay  upon  the  damn'd,  which  Sycorax 
Could  not  again  undo :  it  was  mine  art, 
When  I  arrived  and  heard  thee,  that  made  gape 
The  pine  and  let  thee  out. 

Ari.  I   thank  thee,   master. 

Pr.  If  thou  more  murmur'st,  I  will  rend  an  oak 
And  peg  thee  in  his  knotty  entrails  till 
Thou  hast  howl'd  away  twelve  winters. 

Ari.  Pardon,  master; 

I  will  be  correspondent  to  command 
And  do  my  spiriting  gently. 

Pros.  Do  so,  and  after  two  days 

I  will  discharge  thee. 

Ari.  That's  my  noble  master! 

What  shall  I  do?  say  what;  what  shall  I  do? 

Pros.  Go  make  thyself  like  a  nymph  o'  the  sea :  be 

sub  j  ect 

To  no  sight  but  thine  and  mine,  invisible 
To  every  eyeball  else.     Go  take  this  shape 
And  hither  come  in  't :  go,  hence  with  diligence ! 

(Exit  Ariel 

Awake,  dear  heart,  awake !  thou  hast  slept  well ; 
Awake ! 

Mir.  The  strangeness  of  your  story  put 
Heaviness  in  me. 

Pros.  Shake  it  off.    Come  on ; 

We'll  visit  Caliban  my  slave,  who  never 


Act  i.  THE  TEMPEST. 

Yields  us  kind  answer. 

Mir.  'Tis  a  villain,  sir, 

I  do  not  love  to  look  on. 

Pros.  But,  as  't  is, 

We  cannot  miss  him :  he  does  make  our  fire, 
Fetch  in  our  wood  and  serves  in  offices 
That  profit  us.     What,  ho  !  slave  !  Caliban  ! 
Thou  earth,  thou !  speak. 

Cal.    (Within)   There's  wood  enough  within. 

Pros.  Come   forth,   I    say !    there's   other   business 

for  thee: 
Come,  thou  tortoise !  when  ? 

Re-enter  ARIEL  like  a  water-nymph. 
Fine  apparition !     My  quaint  Ariel, 
Hark  in  thine  ear. 

Ari.  My  lord,  it  shall  be  done.  (Exit. 

Pros.  Thou    poisonous    slave,    got    by    the    devil 

himself 

Upon  thy  wicked  dam,  come  forth ! 
Enter  CALIBAN.* 

Cal.  As  wicked  dew  as  e'er  my  mother  brush'd 
With  raven's  feather  from  unwholesome  fen 
Drop  on  you  both !  a  south-west  blow  on  ye 
And  blister  you  all  o'er  !* 

*  Equivalent,  by  metatliesis,  to  cannibal.  This  indicates 
the  depths  to  which,  in  view  of  the  dramatist,  mankind 
had  fallen,  in  some  places  at  least,  and  substantially 
everywhere,  before  the  Neic  Philosophy  came  to  restore 
to  it  its  lost  powers.  Caliban  represents  the  inhabitants 
of  th  earth  as  the}/  icere  previous  to  the  era  of  Prospero. 
*Cf.  "Coriolanus"  : — 

"All  the  contaf/ion  of  the  south  wind  light  on  you. 

You    xliauics    of  Rome!      You     herd   of boils    aud 

plagues 

Plaster  you  o'er;  that  you  mail  be  abhorr'd 
Further  than   seen,  and   om-   infect  another 
.if/ainst  the  wind  a  mile.' — I.,  4,  30... 
Also  "Ci/nibcline"  : — 

"The  south-boa  rot   him!" — -IT.,    3,    133. 
Also  "Ti'oilns  and  CresHda"  : — 

"The  rotten  diseases  of  the  south." — V.,  1,  21. 
Also    Bacon  :     "In    the  south-iriud  the   breath   of  man 
7.s-    more    offensive,    the   appetite   of   animals   is    more   de- 
pressed, pestilential  disease*  arc   more  frequent,  catarrhs 

22 


THE  TEMPEST.  Scene  n. 

common.,  and  men  are  more  dull  and  heavy." — History  of 
the  Winds. 

Pros.  For  this,  be  sure,  to-night  thou  shalt  have 

cramps, 

Side-stitches  that  shall  pen  thy  breath  up;  urchins 
Shall,  for  that  vast  of  night  that  they  may  work, 
All  exercise  on  thee ;  thou  shalt  be  pinch'd 
As  thick  as  honeycomb,  each  pinch  more  stinging 
Than  bees  that  made  'em. 

Cal.  I  must  eat  my  dinner. 

This  island's  mine,  by  Sycorax  my  mother, 
Which   thou   takest    from   me.      When   thou   earnest 

first, 
Thou  strokedst  me  and  madest  much  of  me,  wouldst 

give  me 

Water  with  berries  in  't,  and  teach  me  how 
To  name  the  bigger  light,  and  how  the  less,* 
That  burn  by  day  and  night :  and  then  I  loved  thee 
And  show'd  thee  all  the  qualities  o'  the  isle, 
The  fresh  springs,  brine-pits,  barren  place  and  fer- 
tile: 

Cursed  be  I  that  did  so !     All  the  charms 
Of  Sycorax,  toads,  beetles,  bats,  light  on  you ! 
For  I  am  all  the  subjects  that  you  have, 
Which  first  was  mine  own  king :  and  here  you  sty 

me 

In  this  hard  rock,  whiles  you  do  keep  from  me 
The  rest  o'  the  island. 

*Cf.  Genesis:  "And  God  made  two  great  lights;  the 
greater  light  to  rule  the  day,  and  the  lesser  light  to  rule 
the  night." — I,  16. 

It  s  a  new  world  which  this  drama  introduces. 

Pros.  Thou  most  lying  slave, 

Whom  stripes  may  move,  not  kindness !    I  have  used 

thee, 

Filth  as  thou  art,  with  human  care,  and  lodged  thee 
In  mine  own  cell,  till  thou  didst  seek  to  violate 
The  honour  of  my  child. 

Cal.  O  ho,  O  ho !  would  't  had  been  done ! 

23 


Act  i.  THE  TEMPEST. 

Thou  didst  prevent  me;  I  had  peopled  else 
This   isle  with   Calibans. 

Pros.  Abhorred  slave, 

Which  any  print  of  goodness  wilt  not  take,* 
Being  capable  of  all  ill !     I  pitied  thee, 
Took  pains   to  make  thee   speak,   taught  thee   each 

hour 

One  thing  or  other :  when  thou  didst  not,  savage, 
Know  thine  own  meaning,  but  wouldst  gabble  like 
A  thing  most  brutish,   I   endow'd  thy  purposes 
With  words  that  made  them  known.*     But  thy  vile 

race, 
Though  thou  didst  learn,  had  that  in  't  which  good 

natures 

Could  not  abide  to  be  with;  therefore  wast  thou 
Deservedly  confined  into  this  rock, 
Who  hadst  deserved  more  than  a  prison. 

*Of.  Bacon  :  "The  face  towards  reason  has  the  print  of 
truth,  and  the  face  towards  action  has  the  print  of 
goodness." — Advancement  of  Learning. 

*This  is  a  very  philosophical  conception  of  the  powers 
of  the  mind,  viz  :  that  thoughts  require  speech  for  their 
development.  It  is  a  fact,  indeed,  of  almost  daily  expe- 
rience with  us  that  we  cannot  be  sure  of  the  possession 
of  any  knowledge  requiring  ratiocination  until  we  have 
either  reduced  it  to  writing  or  explained  it  verbally  to 
another. 

Cf.  Bacon  :  "In  thought  alone  the  mind  is  folded  up 
or  confused;  it  is  unfolded  or  made  open  and  clear  in 
word*  (implicit  in  thought,  explicit  in  words)." — Promus. 

Cal.  You  taught  me  language ;  and  my  profit  on  't 
Is,  I  know  how  to  curse.     The  red  plague  rid  you 
For  learning  me  your  language ! 

Pros.  Hag-seed,  hence! 

Fetch  us  in  fuel ;  and  be  quick,  thou'rt  best, 
To   answer  other   business.     Shrug'st  thou,   malice? 
If  thou  neglect'st  or  dost  unwillingly 
What  I  command,  I'll  rack  thee  with  old  cramps, 
Fill  all  thy  bones    with  aches,*  make  thee  roar 
That  beasts  shall  tremble  at  thy  din. 

*Formerly  (as  here)  a  dissylable,  pronounced  like  the 
plural  of  h.  John  Kemble  tried  one  hundred  years  ago 
to  revive  the  old  pronunciation  on  the  stage  in  London, 

24 


THE  TEMPEST.  scene  n. 

but  failed.      The  audiences   hisxcd   rrr/-//    lime   lie   uttered 
the  word.     The  whole  town  became  excited  orer  it. 

Cal.  No,  pray  thee. 

(Aside)   I  must  obey:  his  art  is  of  such  power, 
It  would  control  my  dam's  god  Setebos,* 
And  make  a  vassal  of  him. 

*A  god  or  devil  of  the  Pataoonians,  mentioned  by 
Eden  (1577)  in  his  account  of  Magellan's  voyage  toward 
the  south  pole. 

Pros.  So  slave;  hence!   (Exit  Caliban. 

Re-enter   ARIEL,    invisible,   playing   and  singing; 
FERDINAND  following. 

ARIEL'S  song. 
Come  unto  these  yellow  sands, 

And  then  take  hands : 
Curtsied  when  you  have  and  kiss'd 

The  wild  waves  whist,* 
Foot  it  featly  here  and  there; 
And,  sweet  sprites,  the  burthen  bear. 
Burthen  (dispersedly).  Hark,  hark! 

Bow-wow. 
The   watchdogs   bark : 

Bow-wow. 

*Cf.  Milton  : — 

"The  winds  with  wonder  whist, 
Smoothly  the  waters  kiss'd." 

— Hymn  on  the  Nativity. 

./n'.  Hark,  hark!     I  hear 

The  strain  of  strutting  chanticleer 
Cry,  Cock-a-diddle-dow. 
Fer.  Where  should  this  music  be  ?  i'  the  air  or  the 

earth  ? 

It  sounds  no  more;  and,  sure,  it  waits  upon 
Some  god  o'  the  island.     Sitting  on  a  bank, 
Weeping  again  the  king  my  father's  wreck, 
This  music  crept  by  me  upon  the  waters, 
Allaying  both  their  fury  and  my  passion* 
With  its  sweet  air :  thence  I  have  follow'd  it, 
Or  it  hath  drawn  me  rather.     But  't  is  gone. 
No,  it  begins  again. 

25 


Act  i.  THE  TEMPEST. 

ARIEL  sings. 

Full  fathom  five  thy  father  lies ; 
Of  his  bones  are  coral  made; 
Those  are  pearls  that  were  his  eyes : 

Nothing  of  him  that  doth  fade 
But  doth  suffer  a  sea-change 
Into  something  rich  and  strange. 
Sea  nymphs  hourly  ring  his  knell : 

Burthen.  Ding-dong. 

Ari.  Hark!  now  I  hear  them,— Ding-dong,  bell.* 
* Ariel  is  sent  to  still  the  waters  in  preparation  for  the 
meeting  and  betrothal  of  Ferdinand.  This  he  accomplishes 
in  a  most  charming  manner  by  means  of  a  song,  in  which 
he  summons  the  nymphs  of  the  sea  (being  himself  at  the 
time  in  the  likeness  of  one)  to  a  dance  on  the  sands.  The 
nymphs  appear,  join  hands,  courtesy  to  partners,  and 
kiss.  They  then  raise  their  voices  in  choms  to  Ariel's 
song,  the  melody  seeming  to  come  from  every  quarter  of 
earth,  sky  and  sea.  The  dantie  begins.  Instantly  thd 
waves  subside,  and  but  for  the  sweet  airs  which  Ferdi- 
nand hears  and  at  which  he  wonders,  all  nature  is  hushed. 
It  is  under  these  conditions,  and  to  the  strains  of  this 
mysterious  music,  with  its  prophecies  of  domestic  life, 
that  Ferdinand  is  led  to  Miranda. 

Milton  prepares  the  earth  for  the  coming  of  Christ  in 
the  same  way  as  ShaJcespeare  prepares  his  magical  island 
for  the  union  of  Ferdinand  and  Miranda.  In  either  case 
it  is  the  birth  of  a  new  world  of  righteousness  that  is 
heralded. 

During  the  middle  ages  it  was  a  wide-spread  opinion 
throughout  continental  Europe  tJiat  storms  and  tern- 
pests  are  the  work  of  evil  spirits,  and  that  they  can  be 
dispersed  by  the  ringing  of  consecrated  bells.  For  tin' ft 
purpose  church  bells  were  solemnly  baptized,  often  with 
water  brought  from  the  river  Jordan,  and  also  duly 
tagged  at  their  tongues  with  scriptural  texts.  Fortu- 
nately the  practice  never  <i<iii\e<l  <i  foothold  in  England, 
at  least  in  the  time  of  Bacon  and  SJiakespeare,  and  yet 
these  two  authors  became  in  some  measure  both  of 
them  victims  to  the  superstition.  We  quote  from  Ba-wn  : 
"It  is  thought  that  the  sound  of  bells  will  dispel 
lightnings  and  thunder. 

— Sylva  Sylvarum,  II,  127,  622-5. 

Per.  The    ditty    does    remember    my    drown'd    fa- 
ther.* 

This  is  no  mortal  business,  nor  no  sound 
That  the  earth  owes.     I  hear  now  above  me. 

26 


THE  TEMPEST.  scene  n. 

*Cf.  Bacon :  "I  understand  it,  that  the  song  be  in 
quire,  placed  aloft,  and  accompanied  with  some  broken 
music;  and  the  ditty  fitted  to  the  device." — Essay  of 
Masques  and  Triumphs. 

The  ditty  in  the  text  corresponds  with  Bacon's  de- 
scription : — 

1.  The  music   is   "in   quire,"    for    a    chorus    of    sea- 
nymphs  repeats  the  sound  of  the  bell  under  the  sea. 

2.  It  "sounds  aloft" ;  Ferdinand  says,  "I  hear  it  now 
above  me." 

3.  It  is  accompanied  "with  some  broken  music,"  for 
Ariel  enters,  "playing  and  singing." 

4.  The  ditty  fits  the  device,  for  it  is  a  dirge  over  the 
body  of  Ferdinand's  father. 

At  the  same  time  it  is  something  more  than  a  dirge; 
it  marks  the  highest  flight  of  imagination  within  our 
knowledge..  In  the  new  world  which  Prospero  is  prepar- 
ing for  mankind  death  is  to  be  stripped  of  its  terrors,  and 
among  them  that  repugnance  to  the  body  after  the  soul 
is  supposed  to  have  left  it,  which  is  now  universal.  We 
find  this  strange  repugnance  stated  in  Cymbeline.  Lucius 
perceives  the  headless  corpse  of  Cloten,  and  also,  lying 
partly  upon  it  in  sleep,  using  it  indeed  as  a  pillow,  the 
living  Imogen.  He  expresses  surprise  at  the  sight,  say- 
ings— 

"Nature  doth  abhor  to  make  his  bed 

With  the  defunct,  or  sleep  upon  the  dead." — IV.,  2. . 

Bacon  utters  the  same  sentiment,  but  with  a  broader 
generalisation  : — 

.  ."The  carcass   of  a  man  is  most  infectious  and  odious 
to  man," — Natural  History,  1627. 

Prospero,  howerer,  purposes  to  develop  our  bodies  at 
death  into  forms  delightful  to  the  senses,  thus  in  some 
measure  alleviating,  or  at  least  not  increasing  the  dis- 
tress of  surviving  friends. 

Pros.  The  fringed  curtains  of  thine  eye  advance 
And  say  what  thou  seest  yond. 

Mir.  What  is  't?  a  spirit? 

Lord,  how  it  looks  about !     Believe  me,  sir, 
It  carries  a  brave     form.     But  't  is  a  spirit. 

Pros.  No,  wench ;  it  eats  and  sleeps  and  hath  such 

senses 

As  we  have,  such.     This  gallant  which  thou  seest 
Was*  in  the  wreck ;  and,  but  he's  something  stain' d 
With    grief    that's    beauty's    canker,    thou    mightst 

call  him 

A  goodly  person :  he  hath  lost  his   fellows 
And  strays  about  to  find  'em. 
27 


Act  i.  THE  TEMPEST. 

Mir.  I  might  call  him 

A  thing  divine,  for  nothing  natural 
I  ever  saw  so  noble. 

Pros.  (Aside)   It  goes  on,  I  see, 

As  my  soul  prompts  it.     Spirit,  fine  spirit !     I'll  free 

thee 
Within  two  days  for  this. 

Per.  Most  sure,  the  goddess 

On  whom  these  airs  attend!     Vouchsafe  my  prayer 
May  know  if  you  remain  upon  this  island; 
And  that  you  will  some  good  instruction  give 
How  I  may  bear  me  here :  my  prime  request, 
Which  I  do  last  pronounce,  is,  O  you  wonder ! 
If  you  be  maid  or  no? 

Mir.  No  wonder,  sir ; 

But  certainly  a  maid. 

Per.  My  language  !  heavens  ! 

I  am  the  best  of  them  that  speak  this  speech, 
Were  I  but  where  't  is  spoken. 

Pros.  How?  the  best? 

What  wert  thott,  if  the  King  of  Naples  heard  thee? 

Per.  A  single  thing,  as   I  am  now,   that  wonders 
To  hear  thee  speak  of  Naples.     He  does  hear  me; 
And  that  he  does  I  weep :  myself  am  Naples, 
Who  with  mine  eyes,  never  since  at  ebb,  beheld 
The  king  my  father  wreck'd. 

Mir.  Alack,  for  mercy! 

Per.  Yes,    faith,   and   all   his   lords ;    the   Duke   of 

Milan 
And  his  brave*  son  being  twain. 

*Noble,  Beautiful. 

Cf.    Bacon  :    "Iron  is  a  brare  commodity  'where  wood 
aboundeth." 

A.SO,  Pepys  :    "It  being  a  brave  morning.  I  walked  to 

Whitehall." — Diary. 

» 

Pros.  (Aside)  The  Duke  of  Milan 

And  his  more  braver  daughter  could  control  thee, 
If  now  't  were  fit  to  do  it.     At  the  first  sight 
They  have  changed  eyes.*     Delicate  Ariel, 

28 


THE  TEMPEST.  scene  n. 

-I'll  set  thee  free  for  this.     (To  Per.)  A  word,  good 

sir; 
I  fear  you  have  done  yourself  some  wrong:  a  word. 

*That  is,  they  have  loved  at  first  sight,  and  expressed 
their  love  through  the  eyes. 

Cf.   Sonnet  XXIII.  :— 
"To  hear  with  eyes  belongs  to  love's  fine  wit." 

This  is  a  Greek  idiom,  the  sense  of  sight  being  often 
taken  a$  inclusive  of  all  the  senses. 

('I  will  rivet  thee  to  this  uninhabited  rock,  where 
neither  the  voice  nor  the  form  of  any  mortal  shalt  thou 
see." — Aeschylus. 

Cf.  Bacon :  "The  affections  no  doubt  do  make  the 
spirits  more  powerful  and  active;  especially  those  which 
draw  the  spirits  into  the  eyes,  which  are  two  :  love  and 
envy.  .  .  .  The  aspects  that  procure  love  are  not  yaz- 
ings,  but  sudden  glances  and  dartings  of  the  eye.  .  .  . 
We  see  the  opinion  of  fascination  for  procuring  love  is 
ancient;  and  fascination  ever  by  the  eye." — Natural  His- 
tory. 

Mir.  Why   speaks   my   father   so   ungently?     This 
Is  the  third  man  that  e'er  I  saw,  the  first 
That  e'er  I  sigh'cl  for :  pity  move  my  father 
To  be  inclined  my  way ! 

Per.  O,  if  a  virgin, 

And  your  affection  not  gone  forth,  I'll  make  you 
The  queen  of   Naples. 

Pros.  Soft,  sir !  one  word  more. 

(Aside)   They  are  both  in  cither's  powers ;  but  this 

swift  business 

I  must  uneasy  make,  lest  too  light  winning 
Make  the  prize  light.   (To  Per.)   One  word  more;  I 

charge  thee 

That  thou  attend  me :  thou  dost  here  usurp 
The  name  thou  owest*  not ;  and  hast  put  thyself 
Upon  this  island  as  a  spy,  to  win  it 
From  me,  the  lord  on  't. 

*An  old  form  of  the  verb  own. 

Per.  No,  as  I  am  a  man. 

Mir.  There's  nothing  ill  can  dwell  in  such  a  tern- 

pie: 
If  the  ill  spirit  have  so  fair  a  house, 

29 


Act  i.  THE  TEMPEST. 

Good  things  will  strive  to  dwell  with  Jt. 

Pros.  Follow  me. 

Speak  not  you  for  him;  he's  a  traitor.     Come; 
I'll  manacle  thy  neck  and  feet  together: 
Sea-water  shalt  thou  drink;  thy  food  shall  be 
The  fresh-brook  muscles,  wither'd  roots  and  husks 
Wherein  the  acorn  cradled.     Follow. 

Per.  No ; 

I  will  resist  such  entertainment  till 
Mine  enemy  has  more  power. 

(Draws,  and  is  charmed  from  moving. 

Mir.  O  dear  father, 

Make  not  too  rash  a  trial  of  him,  for 
He's  gentle  and  not  fearful. 

Pros.  What?  I  say, 

My  foot  my  tutor?     Put  thy  sword  up,  traitor; 
Who  makest  a  show  but  darest  not  strike,  thy  con- 
science 

Is  so  possess'd  with  guilt :  come  from  thy  ward, 
For  I  can  here  disarm  thee  with  this  stick 
And  make  thy  weapon  drop. 

Mir.  Beseech  you,  father. 

Pros.  Hence !  hang  not  on  my  garments. 

Mir.  Sir,   have   pity; 

I'll  be  his  surety. 

Pros.  Silence,  one  word  more 

Shall  make  me  chide  thee,  if  not  hate  thee.     What! 
An  advocate  for  an  impostor!  hush! 
Thou  think'st  there  is  no  more  such  shapes  as  he, 
Having  seen  but  him  and  Caliban:   foolish  wench! 
To  the  most  of  men  this  is  a  Caliban 
And  they  to  him  are  angels. 

Mir.  My  affections 

Are  then  most  humble;  I  have  no  ambition 
To  see  a  goodlier  man. 

Pros.  Come  on;  obey: 

Thy  nerves*  are  in  their  infancy  again 
And  have  no  vigour  in  them. 


THE  TEMPEST.  Scene  n. 

*Sin&ws.    Used  in  the   strictly    Latin    sense,    nervous, 
sineu. 

Per.  So  they  are; 

My  spirits,  as  in  a  dream,  are  all  bound  up. 
My  father's  loss,  the  weakness  which  I  feel, 
The  wreck  of  all  my  friends,  nor  this  man's  threats, 
To  whom  I  am  subdued,  are  but  light  to  me, 
Might  I  but  through  my  prison  once  a  day 
Behold  this  maid:  all  corners  else  o'  the  earth 
Let  liberty  make  use  of;  space  enough 
Have  I  in  such  a  prison. 

Pros.   (Aside)  It  works.     (To  Per.)   Come  on. 
Thou  hast  done  well,  fine  Ariel!   (To  Per.)   Follow 

me. 
(To  Ariel)  Hark  what  thou  else  shalt  do  me. 

Mir.  Be  of  comfort; 

My  father's  of  a  better  nature,  sir, 
Than  he  Appears  by  speech :  this  is  unwonted 
Which  now  came  from  him. 

Pros.  Thou  shalt  be  as  free 

As  mountain  winds :  but  then  exactly  do 
All  points  of  my  command. 

Ari.  To  the  syllable. 

Pros.  Come,  follow.     Speak  not  for  him.  (Exeunt. 


SCENE  I. — Another  part  of  the  island. 

Enter  ALONZO,  SEBASTIAN,  ANTONIO,  GON- 
ZALO,  ADRIAN,  FRANCISCO,  and  others. 

Gon.  Beseech  you,  sir,  be  merry;  you  have  cause, 
So  have  we  all,  of  joy;  for  our  escape 
Is  much  beyond  our  loss.     Our  hint  of  woe 
Is  common ;  every  day  some  sailor's  wife, 
The  masters  of  some  merchant  and  the  merchant 
Have  just  our  theme  of  woe;*  but  for  the  miracle, 
I  mean  our  preservation,   few  in  millions 
Can  speak  like  us :  then  wisely,  good  sir,  weigh 
Our  sorrow  with  our  comfort. 

*It  is   fellowship   in   suffering   to    which   Gonzalo   calls 
attention. 

Cf.  Bacon  :  "Amongst  consolations  it  is  not  the  least 
to  represent  to  a  mans  self  like  examples  of  calami ti/  in 
others.  For  examples  give  a  quicker  impression  than  ar- 
guments; and  besides,  they  certify  to  us  that  which  the 
Scripture  also  tender eth  for  satisfaction,  that  no  new 
thing  is  happened  unto  us.  This  then  do  the  better,  by 
how  much  the  examples  are  liker  in  circumstances  to  out- 
own  case;  and  more  especially  if  they  fall  upon  persona 
that  are  greater  and  worthier  than  ourselves.  .  .  .  If  our 
betters  have  sustained  the  like  events,  we  have  the  less 
cause  to  be  grieved." — Letter  to  Bishop  Andreas. 

It  may  be  interesting  to  compare  the  statements  of 
these  two  authors  upon  this  subject  in  some  detail,  as 
follows  : — 

((When  we  our  betters  see  bearing  our  woes 
We  scarcely   think   our  miseries   our  foes." 

— Shakespeare. 

32 


THE  TEMPEST.  Scene  i. 

"If  our  betters  have  sustained  the  like  events, 
We  have  the  less  cause  to  be  grieved." — Bacon. 
"The  mind  much  sufferance  doth  o'erskip, 

When  grief  hath  mates  and  bearing  fellowship." 

— Shakespeare. 

"Amongst  consolations  it  is  not  the  least  to  represent 
to  a  man's  self  like  examples   of  calamity  in  others."- 
Bacon. 

"How   light  and  portable  my  pain  seems  now, 
"When  that  which  make  me  bend  makes  the  Kiiiy 
bow."  — Shakespeare. 

"More  especially  if  they  fall  upon  persons  that  are 
greater  and  ivorthier  than  ourselves." — Bacon. 

Alon.  Prithee,  peace. 

Seb.  He  receives  comfort  like  cold  porridge. 

Ant.  The  visitor  will  not  give  him  o'er  so. 

Seb.  Look,  he's  winding  up  the  watch  of  his  wit; 
by  and  by  it  will  strike. 

Gon.  Sir, — 

Seb.  One:  tell. 

Gon.  When  every  grief  is  entertain'd  that's  offer'd, 
Comes  to  the  entertainer — 

Seb.  A  dollar. 

Gon.  Dolour  comes  to  him,  indeed :  you  have 
spoken  truer  than  you  purpose^. 

Seb.  You  have  taken  it  wiselier  than  I  meant  you 
should. 

Gon.  Therefore,  my  lord, — 

Ant.  Fie,  what  a  spendthrift  is  he  of  his  tongue! 

Alon.  I  prithee,  spare. 

Gon.  Well,  I  have  done :  but  yet, — 

Seb.  He  will  be  talking. 

Ant.  Which,  of  he  or  Adrian,  for  a  good  wager, 
first  begins  to  crow  ? 

Seb.  The  old  cock. 

Ant.  The  cockerel. 

Seb.  Done.     The  wager? 

Ant.  A  laughter. 

Seb.  A  match ! 

A  dr.  Though  this  island  seem  to  be  desert, — '• 

Seb.  Ha,  ha,  ha !     So,  you're  paid. 

A  dr.  Uninhabitable  and  almost  inaccessible, — 

33 


Act  ii.  THE  TEMPEST. 

Seb.  Yet — 

A  dr.  Yet  — 

Ant.  He  could  not  miss  't. 

A  dr.  It  must  needs  be  of  subtle,  tender  and  deli- 
cate temperance. 

Ant.  Temperance  was  a  delicate  wench. 

Seb.  Ay,  and  a  subtle ;  as  he  most  learnedly  de- 
livered. 

Adr.  The  air  breathes  upon  us  here  most  sweetly. 

Seb.  As  if  it  had  lungs  and  rotten  ones. 

Ant.  Or  as  'twere  perfumed  by  a  fen. 

Gon.  Here  is  everything  advantageous  to  life. 

Ant.  True ;  save  means  to  live. 

Seb.  Of  that  there's  none,  or  little. 

Gon.  How  lush  and  lusty  the  grass  looks !  how 
green ! 

Ant.  The  ground  indeed  is  tawny. 

Seb.  With  an  eye  of  green  in  't. 

Ant.  He  misses  not  much. 

Seb.  No ;  he  doth  but  mistake  the  truth  totally. 

Gon.  But  the  rarity  of  it  is, — which  is  indeed  al- 
most beyond  credit, — 

Seb.  As  many  vouched  rarities  are. 

Gon.  That  our  garments,  being,  as  they  were, 
drenched  in  the  sea,  hold  notwithstanding  their 
freshness  and  glosses,  being  rather  new-dyed  than 
stained  with  salt  water. 

Ant.  If  but  one  of  his  pockets  could  speak,  would 
it  not  say  he  lies? 

Seb.  Ay,  or  very  falsely  pocket  up  his  report. 

Gon.  Methinks  our  garments  are  now  as  fresh  as 
when  we  put  them  on  first  in  Afric,  at  the  marriage 
of  the  king's  fair  daughter  Claribel  to  the  King  of 
Tunis. 

Seb.  'Twas  a  sweet  marriage,  and  we  prosper  well 
in  our  return. 

Adr.  Tunis  was  never  graced  before  with  such  a 
paragon  to  their  queen. 

Gon.  Not  since  widow  Dido's  time. 

34 


THE  TEMPEST.  Scene  i. 

Ant.  Widow!  a  pox  o'  that!  How  came  that 
widow  in?  widow  Dido! 

Scb.  What  if  he  had  said  'widower  Aeneas'  too? 
Good  Lord,  how  you  take  it! 

Adr.  'Widow  Dido'  said  you?  you  make  me  study 
of  that :  she  was  of  Carthage,  not  of  Tunis. 

(ion.  This  Tunis,  sir,  was  Carthage. 

Adr.  Carthage? 

(ion.   I   assure  you,  Carthage. 

Scb.  His  word  is  more  than  the  miraculous  harp;* 
he  hath  raised  the  wall  and  houses  too. 

*An  allusion  probably  to  the  harp  with  which  Amphion 
is  said  to  hare  -mixed  Die  wall  of  Thebes,  the  stone-blocks 
mo  ring  of  their  oirn  accord  as  he  played  upon  it.  But 
Gonsalo  had  done  more  than  this,  for,  as  Mr.  Philpotts 
explains  the  passage,  he  concerted  two  cities  into  one. 
In  the  case  of  Penthens,  the  story  is  reversed. 

Cf.  Bacon  :  "  Penthens,  having  climbed  a  tree  for  the 
purpose  of  seeing  the  mysteries  of  Bacchus,  was  struck 
with  madness ;  and  the  form  of  his  madness  was  this  :  he 
thought  everything  he  saw  was  double;  he  saw  two 
Thebes/' — Wisdom  of  the  Ancients. 

Ant.  What  impossible  matter  will  he  make  easy 
next? 

Seb.  I  think  he  will  carry  this  island  home  in  his 
pocket  and  give  it  his  son  for  an  apple. 

Ant.  And,  sowing  the  kernels  of  it  in  the  sea, 
bring  forth  more  islands. 

Gon.  Ay. 

Ant.  Why,  in  good  time. 

Gon.  Sir,  we  were  talking  that  our  garments  seem 
now  as  fresh  as  when  we  were  at  Tunis  at  the  mar- 
riage of  your  daughter,  who  is  now  queen. 

Ant.  And  the  rarest  that  e'er  came  there. 

Seb.  Bate,  I  beseech  you,  widow  Dido. 

Ant.  O,  widow  Dido !  ay,  widow  Dido. 

Gon.  Is  not,  sir,  my  doublet  as  fresh  as  the  first 
day  I  wore  it?  I  mean,  in  a  sort. 

Ant.  That  sort  was  well  fished  for. 

Gon.  When  I  wore  it  at  your  daughter's  mar- 
riage ? 

35 


Act  ii.  THE  TEMPEST. 

Alon.  You     cram     these    words     into    mine     ears 

against 

The  stomach  of  my  sense.     Would  I  had  never 
Married  my  daughter  there !  for,  coming  thence, 
My  son  is  lost  and,  in  my  rate,  she  too,  • 
Who  is   so   far   from  Italy  removed 
I  ne'er  again  shall  see  her.     O  thou  mine  heir 
Of  Naples  and  of  Milan,  what  strange  fish 
Hath  made  his  meal  on  thee? 

Fran.  Sir,  he  may  live : 

I  saw  him  beat  the  surges  under  him, 
And  ride  upon  their  backs ;  he  trod  the  water, 
Whose  enmity  he  flung  aside,  and  breasted 
The  surge  most  swoln  that  met  him;  his  bold  head 
'Bove  the  contentious  waves  he  kept,  and  oar'd 
Himself  with  his  good  arms  in  lusty  stroke 
To  the  shore,  that  o'er  his  wave-worn  basis  bow'd, 
As  stooping  to  relieve  him :  I  not  doubt 
He  came  alive  to  land. 
Alon.  No,  no,  he's  gone. 

Seb.  Sir,   you   may   thank  yourself   for   this   great 

loss, 

That  would  not  bless  our  Europe  with  your  daugh- 
ter, 

But  rather  lose  her  to  an  African ; 
Where  she  at  least  is  banish'd  from  your  eye, 
Who  hath  cause  to  wet  the  grief  on  't. 
Alon.  Prithee,  peace. 

Seb.  You   were  kneel'd  to   and   inportuned   other- 
wise 

By  all  of  us,  and  the  fair  soul  herself 
Weiglrd  between  loathness  and  obedience,  at 
Which  end  o'  the  beam  should  bow.     We  have  lost 

your  son, 

I  fear,  for  ever :  Milan  and  Naples  have 
More  widows  in  them  of  this  business'  making 
Than  we  bring  men  to  comfort  them : 
The  fault's  your  own. 

Alon.  So  is  the  dear'st*  o'  the  loss. 

36 


THE  TEMPEST.  scene  n. 

*  Greatest. 

Cf.  "Merchant  of  Venice":  "Dearest  friend." — III.,  2, 
294. 

Also  "Hamlet"  :    "Dearest  foe." — I.,   2,   182 

Gon.  My  lord  Sebastian, 

The  truth  you  speak  doth  lack  some  gentleness 
And  time  to  speak  it  in:  you  rub  the  sore, 
When  you  should  bring  the  plaster. 

Seb.  Very  well. 

And.  And  most  chirurgeonly.* 

*From  Gr.  X6*P?  hand,  and  epyeiv,  to  work;  one  also  op- 
erat<-s  with,  his  hands.     Now  contracted  into  surgeon. 

In  ancient  times  physicians  deemed  it  disgraceful  to 
engage  in  any  kind  of  surgery.  Hippocrates  declared 
that  though  the  knife  should  frequently  be  used  and  in 
accordance  with  his  own  directions,  nothing  could  induce 
him  to  use  it  himself. 

Gon.  It  is  foul  weather  in  us  all,  good  sir, 
When  you  are  cloudy. 
Seb.  Foul  weather? 

Ant.  Very  foul. 

Gon.  Had  I  plantation*  of  this  isle,  my  lord, — 

*From  Lat.  planta,  sole  of  the  foot;  colonizing. 
Cf.  Bacon :    "Let  not  the  government  of  the  plantation 
(colony)    depend  upon   too  many  counsellors   and  under- 
takers in  the  country  that  planteth." — Essay  of  Planta- 
tions. 

Ant.  He'ld  sow  't  with  nettle-seed. 

Seb.  Or  docks  or  mallows. 

Gon.  And  were  the  king  on  't,  what  would  I  do? 

Seb.  'Scape  being  drunk  for  want  of  wine. 

Gon.  I'  the  commonwealth*  I  would  by  contraries 
Execute  all  things ;   for  no  kind  of  traffic 
Would  I  admit;*  no  name  of  magistrate; 
Letters  should  not  be  known;   riches,  poverty, 
And  use  of  service,  none ;  contract,  succession, 
Bourn,  bound  of  land,  tilth,  vineyard,  none; 
No  use  of  metal,  corn,  or  wine,  or  oil ; 
No  occupation ;  all  men  idle,  all ; 
And  women  too,  but  innocent  and  pure ; 
No  sovereignty ; — 

37 


Act  ii.  THE  TEMPEST. 

*T'excell  the  Golden  A(/e. 

Cf.  Bacon  :  "We  maintain  a  trade,  not  for  gold,  sil- 
r(  r.  or  jewels;  nor  for  silks,  nor  for  spices,  nor  a-nii 
other  commodity  of  matter;  but  only  for  God's  first  crea- 
ture, which  was  Light;  to  have  Light  (I  say}  of  ilic 
growth  of  all  parts  of  the  world." — New  Atlantis. 

Seb.  Yet  he  would  be  king  on  't. 

Ant.  The  latter  end  of  his  commonweath  forgets 
the  beginning. 

Gon.  All  things  in  common  nature  should  produce 
Without  sweat  or  endeavor :  treason,  felony, 
Sword,  pike,  knife,  gun,  or  need  of  any  engine, 
Would  I  not  have;  but  nature  should  bring  forth, 
Of  its  own  kind,  all  foison  :*  all  abundance 
To  feed  my  innocent  people. 

Seb.  No  marrying  'mong  his  subjects? 

Ant.  None,  man;  all  idle:  whores  and  knaves. 

Gon.  I  would  with  such  perfection  govern,  sir, 
To  excel  the  golden  age. 

Seb.  God  save  his  majesty! 

Ant.  Long  live  Gonzalo ! 

Gon.  And, — do  you  mark  me,  sir? 

A  Ion.  Prithee,  no  more:  thou  dost  talk  nothing 
to  me.* 

*A  tr  in  slat  ion  of  the  common  Greek  saying,  \tyeiv  otidev, 
to  say  what  is  nothing,  or  nothing  to  the  point. 

Gon.  T  do  well  believe  your  highness ;  and  did  it 
to  minister  occasion  to  these  gentlemen,  who  are  of 
such  sensible  and  nimble  lungs  that  they  always  use 
to  laugh  at  nothing. 

Ant.  'Twas  you  we  laughed  at. 

Gon.  Who  in  this  kind  of  merry  fooling  am  noth- 
ing to  you :  so  you  may  continue  and  laugh  at  noth- 
ing still. 

Ant.  What  a  blow  was  there  given ! 

Seb.  An  it  had  not  fallen  flat-long. 

Gon.  You  are  gentlemen  of  brave  mettle ;  you 
would  lift  the  moon  out  of  her  sphere,  if  she  would 
continue  in  it  five  weeks  without  changing. 

38 


THE  TEMPEST.  scene  r 

ARIEL,  invisible,  playing  solemn  music. 

Seb.  We  would*  so,  and  then  go  a  bat-fowling.* 

Ant.  Nay,  good  my  lord,  be  not  angry. 

*The  auxiliaries,  would,  could,  should,  shall  and  will 
were  often  used  indiscriminately  in  Shakespeare's  time. 

*A  term  applied  to  a  popular  method  of  catchiny  birds 
at  night,  by  means  of  lanterns  and  nets. 

Gon.  No,  I  warrant  you ;  I  will  not  adventure  my 
discretion  so  weakly.  Will  you  laugh  me  asleep,  for 
I  am  very  heavy? 

Ant.  Go  sleep,  and  hear  us. 

(All  sleep  except  Alon.,  Seb.,  and  Ant. 

Alon.  What,  all  so  soon  asleep!  I  wish  mine  eyes 
Would,  with  themselves,  shut  up  my  thoughts :  I  find 
They  are  inclined  to  do  so,. 

Seb.  '  Please  you,  sir, 

Do  not  omit  the  heavy  offer  of  it : 
It  seldom  visits  sorrow ;  when  it  doth, 
It  is  a  comforter. 

Ant.      .  We  two,  my  lord, 

Will  guard  your  person  while  you  take  your  rest, 
And  watch  your  safety. 

Alon.  Thank  you.     Wondrous  heavy. 

(Alonzo  sleeps.    Exit  Ariel. 

Seb.  What  a   strange  drowsiness  possesses   them! 

Ant.  It  is  the  quality  o'  the  climate. 

Seb.  Why 

Doth  it  not  then  our  eyelids  sink?     I  find  not 
Myself  disposed  to  sleep. 

~Ant.  Nor  I ;  my  spirits  are  nimble. 

They  fell  together  all,  as  by  consent ; 
They  dropp'd,  as  by  a  thunder-stroke.     What  might, 
Worthy   Sebastian  ?     O,   what  might  ? — No   more  : — 
And  yet  me  thinks  I  see  it  in  thy  face, 
What  thou   shouldst  be :   the  occasion   speaks   thee, 

and 

My  strong  imagination  sees  a  crown 
Dropping  upon  thy  head. 

Seb.  What,  art  thou  waking? 

39 


Act  ii.  THE  TEMPEST. 

.-Int.  Do  you  not  hear  me  speak? 

Seb.  I  do ;  and  surely 

It  is  a  sleepy  language  and  thou  speak'st 
Out  of  thy  sleep.     What  is  it  thou  didst  say? 
This  is  a  strange  repose     to  be  asleep 
With  eyes  wide  open;   standing,  speaking,  moving, 
And  yet  so  fast  asleep.* 

*Cf.  Bacon  :  "Your  lordship's  discourses  had  need  con- 
tent my  ears  very  well,  to  make  them  entreat  mine  ci/es 
to  keep  open.  But  yet,  if  you  will  give  me  leave  to 
awake  you,  when  I  think  your  discourses  do  but  sleep, 
I  will  keep  watch.  .  .  .  It  falleth  out  well  to  shake  off 
your  drowsiness." — An  Advertisement  Touching  on  Holy 
War.  1622. 

Ant.  Noble  Sebastian, 

Thou  let'st  thy   fortune  sleep — die,  rather;   wink'st 
Whiles  thou  art  waking. 

Seb.  Thou  dost  snore  distinctly; 

There's  meaning  in  thy  snores. 

Ant.'  I  am  more  serious  than   my  custom :  you 
Must  be  so  too,  if  heed  me ;  which  to  do 
Trebles  thee  o'er. 

Seb.  Well,  I  am  standing  water.* 

*That  is,  water  without  motion  between  ebb  and  floir; 
may  move  either  way. 

Ant.  I'll  teach  you  how  to  flow. 

Seb.  Do  so :  to  ebb 

Hereditary  sloth  instructs  me. 

Ant.  O, 

If  you  but  knew  how  you  the  purpose  cherish 
Whiles  thus  you  mock  it !  how,  in  stripping  it. 
You  more  invest  it !     Ebbing  men,  indeed, 
Most  often  do  so  near  the  bottom  run 
By  their  own  fear  or  sloth. 

Seb.  Prithee,   say  on  : 

The  setting  of  thine  eye  and  cheek  proclaim 
A  matter  from  thee,  and  a  birth  indeed 
Which  throes  thee  much  to  yield. 

Ant.  Thus,  sir : 

Although  this  lord*  of  weak  remembrance,  this, 
40 


THE  TEMPEST.  scene  i. 

Who  shall  be  of  as  little  memory 

When  he  is  earth'd,  hath  here  almost  persuaded, — 

For  he's  a  spirit  of  persuasion,*  only 

Professes  to  persuade, — the  king  his  son's  alive, 

'Tis  as  impossible  that  he's  undrown'd 

As  he  that  sleeps  here  swims. 

*  Francisco,  ivho  has  expressed  the  opinion  that  Ferdi- 
nand was  alive. 

*  It  aeon  wrote  an  elaborate  treatise  on  the  Art  of  Pet*- 
xiruttion,  under  the  caption  of  "Colors  of  Good  and  Evil." 

Seb.  I  have  no  hope 

That  he's  undrown'd. 

Ant.  O,  out  of  that  'no  hope' 

What  great  hope  have  you !  no  hope  that  way  is 
Another  way  so  high  a  hope  that  even 
Ambition  cannot  pierce  a  wink  beyond, 
But  doubt  discovery  there.*    Will  you  grant  with  me 
That  Ferdinand  is  drown'd? 

*That  is,  ambition  sees  nothing  beyond  royalty  at  Na- 
ples, and  doubts  whether  anything  greater  will  ever  be 
discovered. 

Seb.  He's  gone. 

Ant.  Then,  tell  me, 

Who's  the  next  heir  of  Naples? 

Seb.  Claribel. 

Ant.  She  that  is  queen  of  Tunis ;  she  that  dwells 
Ten  leagues  beyond  man's  life;*  she  that  from  Na- 
ples 

Can  have  no  note*  unless  the  sun  were  post — 
The  man  i'  the  moon's  too  slow — till  new-born  chins 
Be  rough  and  razorable ;  she  that — from  whom? 
We  all  were  sea-swallow'd,  though  some  cast  again, 
And  by  that  destiny  to  perform  an  act 
Whereof  what's  past  is  prologue,  what  to  come 
In  yours  and  my  discharge. 

*  Beyond  the  limits  of  human  existence  on  the  globe. 

*  Knowledge. 

Cf.  Bacon  :  "If  intelligence  of  the  matter  could  not 
otherwise  have  been  had  but  by  him.  advantage  be  not 
lakcn  of  the  note." — Essay  of  Suitor.*. 

41 


Act  ii.  THE  TEMPEST. 

Seb.  What  stuff  is  this!  how  say  you? 

'Tis  true,  my  brother's  daughter  Js  queen  of  Tunis ; 
So  is  the  heir  of  Naples !  'twixt  which  regions 
There  is  some  space. 

Ant.  A  space  whose  every  cubit 

Seems  to  cry  out,  'How  shall  that  Claribel 
Measure  us  back  to  Naples?    Keep  in  Tunis, 
And  let  Sebastian  wake.'     Say,  this  were  death 
That    now   hath    seized   them;    why,    they    were    no 

worse 

Than  now  they  are.    There  be  that  can  rule  Naples 
As  well  as  he  that  sleeps ;  lords  that  can  prate 
As  amply  and  unnecessarily 
As  this  Gonzalo;  I  myself  could  make 
A  chough  of*  as  deep  chat.     O,  that  you  bore 
The  mind  that  I  do !  what  a  sleep  were  this 
For  your  advancement !     Do  you  understand  me  ? 
* Jackdaw,  a  noisy  gabbler. 

Scb.  Methinks  I  do. 

Ant.  And  how  does  your  content 

Tender  your  own  good  fortune? 

Seb.  I  remember 

You  did  supplant  your  brother  Prospero. 

Ant.  True : 

And  look  how  well  my  garments  sit  upon  me ; 
Much  feater  than  before :  my  brother's  servants 
Were  then  my  fellows ;  now  they  are  my  men. 

Seb.  But,  for  your  conscience? 

Ant.  Ay,  sir;  where  lies  that?  if  't  were  a  kibe,* 
'T  would  put  me  to  my  slipper :  but  I  feel  not 
This  deity  in  my  bosom :  twenty  consciences. 
That  stand  'twixt  me  and  Milan,  candied  be  they 
And  melt  ere  they  molest!     Here  lies  your  brother, 
No  better  than  the  earth  he  lies  upon, 
If  he  were  that  which  now  he's  like,  that's  dead ; 
Whom  I,  with  this  obedient  steel,  three  inches  of  it, 
Can  lay  to  bed  for  ever;  whiles  you,  doing  thus, 
To  the  perpetual  wink  for  aye  might  put 
This  ancient  morsel,  this  Sir  Prudence,  who 
42 


THE  TEMPEST.  scene  i. 

Should  not  upbraid  our  course.     For  all  the  rest, 
They'll  take  suggestion  as  a  cat  laps  milk ; 
They'll  tell  the  clock  to  any  business  that 
We  say  befits  the  hour. 

*An  ulcer  in  one's  heel. 

Seb.  Thy  case,  dear  friend, 

Shall  be  my  precedent ;  as  thou  got'st  Milan, 
I'll  come  by  Naples.     Draw  thy  sword :  one  stroke 
Shall  free  thee  from  the  tribute  which  thou  payest; 
And  I  the  king  shall  love  thee. 

Ant.  Draw  together ; 

And  when  I  rear  my  hand,  do  you  the  like, 
To  fall  it  on  Gonzalo. 
Seb.  O,  but  one^  word.     (They  talk  apart. 

Re-enter  ARIEL,  invisible. 

Ari.  My  master  through  his  art  foresees  the  dan- 
ger 

That  you,  his  friend,  are  in ;  and  sends  me  forth — 
For  else  his  project  dies — to  keep  them  living. 

(Sings  in  Gonzalo's  ear. 
While  you  here  do  snoring  lie, 
Open-eyed  conspiracy 
His  time  doth  take. 
If  of  life  you  keep  a  care, 
Shake  off  slumber,  and  beware : 

Awake,  awake ! 

Ant.  Then  let  us  both  be  sudden. 
Gon.  Now,  good  angels 

Preserve  the  king.  (They  wake. 

Alon.  Why,  how  now?  ho,  awake!     Why  are  you 

drawn  ? 
Wherefore  this   ghastly   looking? 

Gon.  What's  the  matter? 

Seb.  Whiles  we  stood  here  securing  your  repose, 
Even  now,  we  heard  a  hollow  burst  of  bellowing 
Like  bulls,  or  rather  lions :  did't  not  wake  you  ? 
It  struck  mine  ear  most  terribly. 
Alon.  I  heard  nothing. 

43 


Act  ii.  THE  TEMPEST. 

Ant.  O,  't  was  a  din  to  fright  a  monster's  ear, 
To  make  an  earthquake !   sure,  it  was  the  roar 
Of  a  whole  herd  of  lions. 

Alon.  Heard  you  this,  Gonzalo? 

Gon.  Upon  mine  honour,  sir,  I  hear  a  humming, 
And  that  a  strange  one  too,  which  did  awake  me : 
I  shaked  you,  sir,  and  cried :  as  mine  eyes  open'd, 
I  saw  their  weapons  drawn:  there  was  a  noise, 
That's  verily.     'Tis  best  we  stand  upon  our  guard, 
Or  that  we  quit  this  place :  let's  draw  our  weapons. 

Alon.  Lead  off  this  ground;   and  let's   make   fur- 
ther search 
For  my  poor  son. 

Gon.          Heavens  keep  him  from  these  beasts ! 
For  he  is,  sure,  i'  the  island. 

Alon.  Lead  away. 

Ari.  Prospero   my   lord   shall   know   what   I   have 

done : 
So,  king,  go  safely  on  to  seek  thy  son.  (Exeunt. 


SCENE  II.— Another  part  of  the  island. 
Enter  CALIBAN  with  a  burden  of  zvood.     A  noise 

of  thunder  heard. 

Cal.  All  the  infections  that  the  sun  sucks  up 
From  bogs,  fens,  flats,  on  Prosper  fall  and  make  him 
By  inch-meal  *  a  disease !     His  spirits  hear  me 
And  yet  I  needs  must  curse.     But  they'll  nor  pinch 
Fright  me  with  urchin-shows,  pitch  me  i'  the  mire, 
Nor  lead  me,  like  a  firebrand,   in  the   dark* 
Out  of  my  way,  unless  he  bid  'em;  but 
For  ever  trifle  are  they  set  upon  me; 
Sometime  like  apes  that  mow*  and  chatter  at  me 
And  after  bite  me,  then  like  hedgehogs  which 

44 


TllK    TlOMl'KST.  Scene  II. 

Lie  tumbling  in  my  .barefoot  way  and  mount 
Their  pricks  at  my  footfall ;  sometimes  am  I 
All  wound  with  adders  who  with  cloven  tongues 
Do  hiss  me  into  madness. 

Enter  TRINCULO. 

Lo,  now,  lo ! 

Here  comes  a  spirit  of  his,  and  to  torment  me 
For  bringing  wood  in  slowly.  I'll  fall  flat; 
Perchance  he  will  not  mind  me. 

*  Inch-parts.  *Ignis  fatuus.  *Makes  face*. 

Trin.  Here's  neither  bush  nor  shrub,  to  bear'  off 
any  weather  at  all,  and  another  storm  brewing;  I 
hear  it  sing  i'  the  wind :  yond  same  black  cloud, 
yond  huge  one,  looks  like  a  foul  bombard  that  would 
shed  his  liquor.  If  it  should  thunder  as  it  did  be- 
fore, I  know  not  where  to  hide  my  head :  yond  same 
cloud  cannot  choose  but  fall  by  pailfuls.  What 
have  we  here?  a  man  or  a  fish?  dead  or  alive?  A 
fish :  he  smells  like  a  fish ;  a  very  ancient  and  fish- 
like  smell;  a  kind  of  not  of  the  newest  Poor-John. 
A  strange  fish !  Were  I  in  England  now,  as  once  I 
was,  and  had  but  this  fish  painted,  not  a  holiday 
fool  there  but  would  give  a  piece  of  silver :  there 
would  this  monster  make  a  man ;  any  strange  beast 
there  makes  a  man :  when  they  will  not  give  a  doit 
to  relieve  a  lame  beggar,  they  will  lay  out  ten  to  see 
a  dead  Indian.  Legged  like  a  man !  and  his  fins  like 
arms !  Warm  o'  my  troth !  I  do  now  let  loose  my 
opinion ;  hold  it  no  longer :  this  is  no  fish,*  but  an 
islander,  that  hath  lately  suffered  by  a  thunderbolt. 
(Thunder.)  Alas,  the  storm  is  come  again!  my  best 
way  is  to  creep  under  his  gaberdine;  there  is  no 
other  shelter  hereabout :  misery  acquaints  a  man 
with  strange  bed-fellows.  I  will  here  shroud  till  the 
dregs  of  the  storm  be  past. 

*Cf.  Bacon  :    "Fish  are  said  to  le  cold-blooded." — His- 
toria  Sitae  et  Mortis. 

45 


Act  IT.  THE  TEMPEST. 

Enter  STEPHANO,  singing:  a  bottle  in  his  hand. 
Ste.  I  shall  no  more  to  sea,  to  sea, 

Here  shall  I  die  ashore — 

This  is  a  very  scurvy  tune  to  sing  at  a  man's  fu- 
neral :  well,  here's  my  comfort.*  (Drinks. 
(Sings. 
The  master,  the  swabber,  the  boatswain  and  I, 

The  gunner  and  his  mate 

Loved  Mall,  Meg  and  Marian  and  Margery, 
But  none  of  us  cared  for  Kate; 
For  she  had  a  tongue  with  a  tang, 
Would  cry  to  a  sailor,  Go  hang! 
She  loved  not  the  savour  of  tar  nor  of  pitch, 
Yet  a  tailor  might  scratch  her  where'er  she  did  itch : 

Then  to  sea,  boys,  and  let  her  go  hang! 
This  is  a  scurvy  tune  too :  but  here's  my  comfort. 

(Drinks. 

*What  Stephano  calls  his  comfort  had  affected  his 
speech. 

Cal.  Do  not  torment  me :  Oh ! 

Ste.  What's  the  matter?  Have  we  devils  here? 
Do  you  put  tricks  upon  's  with  savages  and  men  of 
Ind,  ha?  I  have  not  scaped  drowning  to  be  afeard 
now  of  your  four  legs ;  for  it  hath  been  said,  As 
proper  a  man  as  ever  went  on  four  legs  cannot  make 
him  give  ground;  and  it  shall  be  said  so  again  while 
Stephano  breathes  at.  's  nostrils. 

Cal.  The  spirit  torments  me ;  Oh ! 

Ste.  This  is  some  monster  of  the  isle  with  four 
legs,  who  hath  got,  as  I  take  it,  an  ague.  Where 
the  devil  should  he  learn  our  language?  I  will  give 
him  some  relief,  if  it  be  but  for  that.  If  I  can  re- 
cover him  and  keep  him  tame  and  get  to  Naples  with 
him,  he's  a  present  for  any  emperor  that  ever  trod 
on  neat's-leather. 

Cal.  Do  not  torment  me,  prithee ;  I'll  bring  my 
wood  home  faster. 

Ste.  He's  in  his  fit  now  and  does  not  talk  after 
the  wisest.  He  shall  taste  of  my  bottle :  if  he  have 


THE  TEMPEST.  scene  n. 

never  drunk  wine  afore,  it  will  go  near  to  remove 
his  lit.  If  I  can  recover  him  and  keep  him  tame,  I 
will  not  take  too  much  for  him;  he  shall  pay  for 
him  that  hath  him,  and  that  soundly. 

Cal.  Thou  dost  me  yet  but  little  hurt ;  thou  wilt 
anon,  I  know  it  by  thy  trembling:*  now  Prospei 
works  upon  thee. 

*'/'Jt8  was  formerly  thought  to  indicate  the  presence 
<>/'  a  dei'il  in  one's  body. 

Cf.  "Comedy  of  Errors"  : — 
"Mark,  how  he  tremble  in  his  ecstacy ! 
I  charge  thee,  Satan,  hous'd  within  this  man, 

To  yield  possession."  — IV>>  4,  54. 

In  like  manner  sneezing  ivas  thought  to  be  an  effort 
of  the  body  to  expel  a  devil. 

Ste.  Come  on  your  ways ;  open  your  mouth ;  here 
is  that  which  will  give  language  to  you,  cat  :*  open 
your  mouth;  this  will  shake  your  shaking,  I  can 
tell  you,  and  that  soundly :  you  cannot  tell  who's 
your  friend :  open  your  chaps  again. 

*An  allusion  to  the  old  proverb,  "Good  liquor  will 
make  a  cat  speak." 

Trin.  I  should  know  that  voice :  it  should  be — 
but  he  is  drowned ;  and  these  are  devils :  O  defend 
me! 

Ste.  Four  legs  and  two  voices :  a  most  delicate 
monster !  His  forward  voice  now  is  to  speak  well 
of  his  friend;  his  backward  voice  is  to  utter  foul 
speeches  and  to  detract.  If  all  the  wine  in  my  bot- 
tle will  recover  him,  I  will  help  his  ague.  Come. 
Amen !  I  will  pour  some  in  thy  other  mouth. 

Trin.  Stephano ! 

Ste.  Doth  thy  other  mouth  call  me?  Mercy, 
mercy!  This  is  a  devil,  and  no  monster:  I  will 
leave  him;  I  have  no  long  spoon.* 

*An  allusion  to  another  proverb,  "He  who  sups  with 
the  devil  has  need  of  a  long  spoon." 

Trin.  Stephano !  If  thou  beest  Stephano,  touch 
me  and  speak  'to  me;  for  I  am  Trinculo — be  not 
a f card — thy  good  friend  Trinculo. 

47 


Act  ii.  THE  TEMPEST. 

Ste.  If  them  beest  Trinculo,  come  forth :  I'll  pull 
thee  by  the  lesser  legs :  if  any  be  Trinculo's  legs, 
these  are  they.  Thou  art  very  Trinculo  indeed! 
How  earnest  thou  to  be  the  siege  of  this  mooji-calf  ?* 
can  he  vent  Trinculos? 

*From  Lat.  sedes,  seat,  abode. 

*A  monster,  in  the  shaping  of  which  at  Mrth  the  moon 
was  supposed  to  have  an  agency. 

Trin.  I  took  him  to  be  killed  with  a  thunder- 
stroke. But  art  thou  not  drowned,  Stephano?  I 
hope  now  thou  art  not  drowned.  Is  the  storm  over- 
blown? I  hid  me  under  the  dead  moon-calf's  gaber- 
dine for  fear  of  the  storm.  And  art  thou  living, 
Stephano  ?  O  Stephano,  two  Neapolitans  'scaped ! 

Ste.  Prithee,  do  not  turn  me  about;  my  stomach 
is  not  constant. 

Cat.    (Aside)    These  be  fine  things,  an  if  they  be 

not  sprites. 

That's  a  brave  god  and  bears  celestial  liquor. 
I  will  kneel  to  him. 

Ste.  How  didst  thou  'scape?  How  earnest  thou 
hither?  swear  by  this  bottle  how  thou  earnest  hither. 
I  escaped  upon  a  butt  of  sack*  which  the  sailors 
heaved  o'erboard,  by  this  bottle !  which  I  made  of 
the  bark  of  a  tree  with  mine  own  hands  since  I  was 
cast  ashore. 

*From  Lat.  siccus  (O.  Eng.  Sec),  dry;  a  Spanish  icinc 
of  the  dry  kind. 

Cat.  I'll  swear  upon  that  bottle  to  be  thy  true  sub- 
ject; for  the  liquor  is  not  earthly. 

Ste.  Here ;   swear   then  how  thou  escapedst. 

Trin.  Swum  ashore,  man,  like  a  duck :  I  can  swim 
like  a  duck,  I'll  be  sworn. 

Ste.  Here,  kiss  the  book.  Though  thou  canst 
swim  like  a  duck,  thou  art  made  like  a  goose. 

Trin.  O  Stephano,  hast  any  more  of  this? 

Ste.  The  whole  butt,  man :  my  cellar  is  in  a  rock 
by  the  sea-side  where  my  wine  is  hid.  How  now, 
moon-calf!  how  does  thine  ague? 


THE  TEMPEST.  scene H. 

Cal.  Hast  thou  not  dropp'd  from  heaven? 

Stc.  Out  o'  the  moon,  I  do  assure  thee ;  I  was 
the  man  i'  the  moon  when  time  was. 

Cal.  I  have  seen  thee  in  her  and  I  do  adore  thee : 
My  mistress  show'd  me  thee  and  thy  dog  and  thy 
bush. 

Ste.  Come,  swear  to  that ;  kiss  the  book :  I  will 
furnish  it  anon  with  new  contents :  swear. 

Trin.  By  this  good  light,  this  is  a  very  shallow 
monster  !  I  afeard  of  him  !  A  very  weak  monster  ! 
The  man  i'  the  moon !  A  most  poor  credulous  mon- 
ster !  Well  drawn,  monster,  in  good  sooth  !* 

*  Truth.  The  word  soothsayer  formerly  meant  truth- 
teller. 

Cal.  I'll  show  thee  every  fertile  inch  o'  thj  island; 
And  I  will  kiss  thy  foot :  I  prithee,  be  my  god.* 

*Cf.   "Julius  Caesar"  : — 

"And  this  man 
Is  now  become  a  god." — I.,  2. 
Also   "Cymbeline"  : — 

"We  scarce  are  men  and  you  are  gods." — V.,  2. 
Also  Bacon  :  "Let  a  man  only  consider  what  a  differ- 
ence there  is  between  the  life  of  men  in  the  most  civilized 
prorinces  of  Europe  and  in  the  wildest  and  most  barbar- 
ous districts  of  New  India;  he  will  feel  it  to  be  great 
enough  to  justify  the  saying  that  'man  is  a  god  to  man.' " 

— Novum  Organum. 

Trin.  By  this  light,  a  most  perfidious  and  drunken 
monster !  when  's  god's  asleep,  he'll  rob  his  bottle. 

Cal.  I'll  kiss  thy  foot;  I'll  swear  myself  thy  sub- 
ject. 

Ste.  Come  on  then;  down,  and  swear. 

Trin.  I  shall  laugh  myself  to  death  at,  this  puppy- 
headed  monster.  A  most  scurvy  monster !  I  could 
find  in  my  heart  to  beat  him, — 

Ste.  Come,  kiss. 

Trin.  But  that  the  poor  monster's  in "'<J.fihk:  an 
abominable  monster ! 

Cal.  I'll  show  thee  the  best  springs ;  I'll  pluck  thee 

berries ; 
I'll  fish  for  thee  and  get  thee  wood  enough. 

49 


Act  ii.  THE  TEMPEST. 

A  plague  upon  the  tyrant  that  I  serve! 

I'll  bear  him  no  more  sticks,  but  follow  thee, 

Thou  wondrous  man. 

Trin.  A  most  ridiculous  monster,  to  make  a  won- 
der of  a  poor  drunkard !* 

*A  wonder  is  anything  the  cause  or  nature  of  which  is 
unknown  and  assumed  to  be  unknowable;  as,  for  instance, 
divinity. 

Cf.  Bacon :  "Contemplation  hath  for  ever  knowledge, 
but  as  to  the  nature  of.  God  no  knowledge,  but  wonder; 
which  is  nothing  else  but  contemplation  broken  off,  of 
losing  itself." — on  the  Interpretation  of  Nature.  - 

Cal.  I    prithee,    let    me    bring    thee    where    crabs 

grow; 

And  I  with  my  long  nails  will  dig  thee  pig-nuts ; 
Show  thee  a  jay's  nest  and  instruct  thee  how 
To  snare  the  nimble  marmoset;  I'll  bring  thee 
To  clustering  filberts  and  sometimes  I'll  get  the 
Young  scamels  from  the  rock.     Wilt  thou  go  with 

me? 

Ste.  I  prithee  now,  lead  the  way  without  any  more 
talking.  Trinculo,  the  king  and  all  our  company 
else  being  drowned,  we  will  inherit  here;  here;  bear 
my  bottle :  fellow  Trinculo,  we'll  fill  him  by  and  by 
again. 
Cal.  (Sings  drunkenly) 

Farewell,    master ;    farewell,    farewell ! 
Trin.  A  howling  monster ;  a  drunken  monster ! 
Cal.  No  more  dams   I'll  make  for  fish; 
Nor  fetch  in  firing 
At  requiring; 

Nor  scrape  trencher,  nor  wash  dish : 
'Ban,  'Ban,  Cacaliban 
Has  a  new  master:  get  a  new  man. 
Freedom,  hey-day !  hey-day,  freedom !  freedom,  hey- 
day, freedom ! 
Ste.  O  brave  monster !     Lead  the  way.     (Exeunt. 


5° 


SCENE  I. — Before  Prospero's  cell. 
Enter  FERDINAND,  bearing  a  log. 

Per.  There  be  some  sports  are  painful,*  and  their 

labour 

Delight  in  them  sets  off :  some  kinds  of  baseness 
Are  nobly  undergone  and  most  poor  matters 
Point  to  rich  ends.     This  my  mean  task 
Would  be  as  heavy  to  me  as  odious,  but 
The  mistress  which  I  serve  quickens  what's  dead 
And  make  my  labours  pleasures :  O,  she  is 
Ten  times  more  gentle  than  her  father's  crabbed, 
And  he's  composed  of  harshness.     I  must  remove 
Some  thousands  of  these  logs  and  pile  them  up, 
Upon  a  sore  injunction:  my  sweet  mistress 
Weeps   when    she    seees    me   work,    and    says,    such 

baseness 

Had  never  like   executor.     I   forget : 
But   these   sweet   thoughts   do   even    refresh   my   la- 
bours, 
Most  busy  lest,  when  I  do  it.* 

*  Requiring  one  to  take  pain*. 

•  *That  is,  most  busy  when  I  do  it  least.    A    lil-r  senti- 
ment is  in  "Romeo  and  Juliet : — 

"Most   are   busied   when    they're    most    alone.'' 

—I.,  1,  134. 

Enter  MIRANDA ;  and  PROSPERO  at  a  distance, 
unseen. 


Act  in.  THE  TEMPEST. 

Mir.  Alas,  now,  pray  you, 

Work  not  so  hard :  I  would  the  lightning  had 
Burnt  up  those  logs  that  you  are  enjoined  to  pile! 
Pray,  set  it  down  and  rest  you :  when  this  burns, 
'Twill  weep  for  having  wearied  you.     My  father 
Is  hard  at  study;  pray  now,  rest  yourself; 
He's  safe  for  these  three  hours. 

Per.  O  most  dear  mistress, 

The  sun  will  set  before  I  shall  discharge 
What  I  must  strive  to  do. 

Mir.  If  you'll  sit  down, 

I'll  bear  your  logs  the  while :  pray,  give  me  that ; 
I'll  carry  it  to  the  pile. 

Per.  No,  precious   creature; 

I  had  rather  crack  my  sinews,  break  my  back, 
Than  you  should  such   dishonour  undergo, 
While  I  sit  lazy  by. 

Mir.  It  would  become  me 

As  well  as  it  does  you :  and  I  should  do  it 
With  much  more  ease;   for  my  good  will  is  to  it, 
And  yours  it  is  against. 

Pros.  Poor  worm,  thou   art   infected! 

This  visitation  shows  it. 

Mir.  Your  look  wearily. 

Per.  No,  noble  mistress ;   'tis  fresh  morning  with 

me 

When  you  are  by  at  night.     I  do  beseech  you — 
Chiefly  that  I  might  set  it  in  my  prayers — 
What   is  your   name? 

Mir.  Miranda. — O  my  father, 

I  have  broke  your  best  to  say  so ! 

Per.  Admired   Miranda ! 

Indeed  the  top  of  admiration  !*   worth 
What's    dearest   to   the   world !      Full   many   a   lady 
I  have  eyed  with  best  regard  and  many  a  time 
The  harmony  of  their  tongues  hath  into  bondage 
Brought  my  too  diligent  ear:   for  several  virtues 
Have  I  liked  several  women ;  never  any 
With  so  full  soul,  but  some  defect  in  her 

52 


THE  TEMPEST.  scene  r. 

Did  quarrel  with  the  noblest  grace  she  owed 
And  put  it  to  the  foil  :*  but  you,  O  you, 
So  perfect  and  so  peerless,  are  created 
Of  every  creature's  best  !* 
*Cf.  Bacon  : — 

The  following  similar  expressions  are  found  vise  where 
in  these  plays  : — 

The  top  of  judgment. 

The  top  of  honor. 

The  spire  and  top  of  praises. 

The  top  of  question. 

Top   of  sovereignty. 

Top  of  my  compass. 

Top  of  my  'bent. 

Top  of     all  design. 

Tops  of  all  their  pride. 

The  top  of  happy  hours. 

In  top  of  rage. 

Cf.  Bacon  :  <(Pindar  in  praising  Hiero,  says  most  ele- 
gantly (as  is  his  ivont)  that  he  'culled,  the  tops  of  all 
virtues.'  And  certainly  I  think  it  would  contribute  much 
to  magnonimity  and  the  honor  of  humanity,  if  a  collection 
were  made  of  what  the  schoolmen  call  the  ultimities,  and 
Pindar  the  tops  and  summits  of  human  nature,  especially 
from  true  history;  showing  ichat  is  the  ultimate  and 
highest  point  which  human  nature  has  of  itself  attained 
in  the  several  gifts  of  body  and  mind." — De  Augmentis. 
*  From  O.  Fr.  afoler,  to  frustrate,  or  make  of  no  effect. 
*Cf.  Bacon:  "A  man  cannot  tell  whether  Apelles 
(Zetf%is)  or  Albert  Durer  were  the  more  trifter  ;  whereof 
the  one  would  make  a  personage  by  geometrical  propor- 
tions, the  other  by  taking  the  best  parts  out  of  divers 
faces,  to  make  one  excellent." — Essay  of  Beauty. 

Also,  Catullus  :  "She  is  the  most  beautiful  of  all,  hav- 
ing stolen  all  graces  from  all  others." — Latin  Epigram, 
87. 

Mir.  I  do  not  know 

One^of  my  sex;  no  woman's  face  remember, 
Save,  from  my  glass,  mine  own ;  nor  have  I  seen 
More  that  I  may  call  men  than  you,  good  friend, 
And  my  dear  father:  how  features  are  abroad, 
I  am  skilless  of;  but,  by  my  modesty, 
The  jewel  in  my  dower,  I  would  not  wish 
Any  companion  in  the  world  but  you, 
Nor  can  imagination  form  a  shape, 
Besides  yourself,  to  like  of.     But  I  prattle 

53 


Act  in.  THE  TEMPEST. 

Something  too  wildly  and  my  father's  precepts 
I  therein  do  forget. 

Per.  I  am  in  my  condition 

A1  prince,  Miranda;  I  do  think,  a  king; 
I  would,  not  so! — and  would  no  more  endure 
This  wooden  slavery  than  to  suffer 
The  flesh-fly  blow  my  mouth.     Hear  my  soul  speak: 
The  very  instant  that  I  saw  you,  did 
My  heart  fly  to  your  service;  there  resides, 
To  make  me  slave  to  it;  and  for  your  sake 
Am  I  this  patient  log-man. 

*That  is,  deposit  eggs. 

Mir.  Do  you  love  me? 

Per.  O  heaven,  O  earth,  bear  witness  to  this  sound 
And  crown  what  I  profess  with  kind  event 
If  I  speak  true !  if  hollowly,  invert 
What  best  is  boded  me  to  mischief!     I 
Beyond  all  limit  of  what  else  i'  the  world 
Do  love,  prize,  honour  you. 

Mir.  I  am  a  fool 

To  weep  at  what  I  am  glad  of. 

Pros.  Fair  encounter 

Of  two  most  rare  affections !     Heavens   rain  grace 
On  that  which  breeds  between  'em ! 

Per.  Wherefore  weep  you? 

Mir.  At  mine  un worthiness  that  dare  not  offer 
What  I  desire  to  give,  and  much  less  take 
What  I  shall  die  to  want.    But  this  is  trifling; 
And  all  the  more  it  seeks  to  hide  itself, 
The  bigger  bulk  it  shows.     Hence,  bashful  cunning! 
And  prompt  me,  plain  and  holy  innocence !        • 
I  am  your  wife,  if  you  will  marry  me ; 
If  not,  I'll  die  your  maid ;  to  be  your  fellow 
You  may  deny  me ;  but  I'll  be  your  servant, 
Whether  you  will  or  no.* 

*The  writings  of  Catullus  had  not  been  translated  into 
English  in  Shakespeare's  time. 

Cf.  "Catullus"  :  "If  our  marriage  had  not  been  agree- 
able to  you,  you  could  have  taken  me  to  your  home, 
where,  as  your  maid,  I  ivould  cheerfully  have  served  you." 

54 


THE  TEMPEST.  scene  i. 

Per.  My  mistress,  dearest; 

And  I  thus  humble  ever. 

Mir.  My   husband,   then?* 

*Mirand,  not  Ferdinand,  a#ks  the  momentous  question 
"Troilus   and  Cressida"  : — 

"Cressida    (to  Troilus).    Though  I  lov'd  you  well,  1 
woo'd  you  not; 

And  yet,  good,  faith,  I  wish'd  myself  a  man, 
Or  that  we  women   had  men's  privilege 
Of   speaking   first."  —ill.,    2,    125. 

Also  Bacon  :  "Let  me  put  a  feigned  case  (and  yet  an- 
tiquity makes  it  doubtful  whether  it  were  fiction  or  his- 
tory) where  the  whole  government,  public  and  private, 
yea  the  militia  itself,  was  in  the  hands  of  women.  .  .  . 
I  speak  not  of  the  reign  of  women  (for  that  is  supplied 
"by  counsel  and  subordinate  magistrates  masculine),  but 
where  the  regiment  of  state,  justice,  families,  is  all  man- 
aged by  women." — An  Advertisement  Touching  on  Holy 
War. 

Per.  Ay,  with  a  heart  as  willing 
As  bondage  e'er  of  freedom :  here's  my  hand. 

Mir.  And   mine,   with   my   heart   in   Jt :    and   now 

farewell 
Till  half  an  hour  hence. 

Per.  A  thousand  thousand ! 

(Exeunt  Per.  and  Mir.  severally. 

Pros.  So  glad  of  this  as  they  I  cannot  be, 
Who  are  surprised  withal;  but  my  rejoicing 
At  nothing  can  be  more.     I'll  to  my  book, 
For  yet  ere  supper-time  must  I  perform 
Much  business  appertaining.  (Exit. 


SCENE  II.— Another  part  of  the  island. 
Enter  CALIBAN,  STEPHANO,  and  TRINCULO. 
Ste.  Tell  not  me ;  when  the  butt  is  out,  we  will 
drink  water ;  not  a  drop  before :  therefore  bear  up, 
and  board  'em.     Servant-monster,  drink  to  me. 

55 


Act  in.  THE  TEMPEST. 

Trin.  Servant-monster !  the  folly  of  this  island ! 
They  say  there's  but  five  upon  this  isle :  we  are  three 
of  them ;  if  the  other  two  be  brained  like  us,  the 
state  totters. 

Ste.  Drink,  servant-monster,  when  I  bid  thee :  thy 
eyes  are  almost  set  in  thy  head. 

Trin.  Where  should  they  be  set  else?  he  were  a 
brave  monster  indeed,  if  they  were  set  in  his  tail. 

Ste.  My  man-monster  hath  drown'd  his  tongue 
in  sack:  for  my  part,  the  sea  cannot  drown  me;  I 
swam,  ere  I  could  recover  the  shore,  five  and  thirty 
leagues  off  and  on.  By  this  light,  thou  shalt  be  my 
lieutenant,  monster,  or  my  standard. 

Trin.  Your  lieutenant,  if  you  list ;  he's  not  stand- 
ard. 

Ste.     We'll  not  run,   Monsieur   Monster. 

Trin.  Nor  go  neither ;  but  you'll  lie  like  dogs  and 
yet  say  nothing  neither. 

Ste.  Moon-calf,  speak  once  in  thy  life,  if  thou 
beest  a  good  moon-calf. 

Cat.  How  does  thy  honour?  Let  me  lick  thy 
shoe. 

Trin.  Thou  liest,  most  ignorant  monster :  I  am 
in  case  to  ustle  a  constable.  Why,  thou  deboshed 
fish,  thou,  was  there  ever  man  a  coward  that  hath 
drunk  so  much  sack  as  I  to-day?  Wilt  thou  tell  a 
monstrous  lie,  being  but  half  a  fish  and  half  a  mon- 
ster ? 

Cal.  Lo,  how  he  mocks  me !  wilt  thou  let  him, 
my  lord? 

Trin.  'Lord'  quoth  he !  That  a  monster  should 
be  such  a  natural ! 

*An  idiot. 

Cal.    Lo,  lo,  again !  bite  him  to  death,  I  prithee. 

She.  Trinculo,  keep  a  good  tongue  in  your  head : 
if  you  prove  a  mutineer, — the  next  tree!  The  poor 
monster's  my.  subject  and  he  shall  not  suffer  indig- 
nity. 

Cal.    I  thank  my  noble  lord.     Wilt  thou  be  pleased 

56 


THE  TEMPEST.  scene  n 

to  hearken  once  again  to  the  suit  I  made  to  thee? 

Ste.  Marry,  will  I :  kneel  and  repeat  it ;  I  will 
stand,  and  so  shall  Trinculo. 

Enter  ARIEL,  invisible. 

Cat.  As  I  told  thee  before,  I  am  subject  to  a  ty- 
rant, a  sorcerer,  that  by  his  cunning  hath  cheated 
me  of  the  island. 

Ari.   Thou  liest. 

Cal.  Thou  liest,  thou  jesting  monkey,  thou : 
I  would  my  valiant  master  would  destroy  thee ! 
I  do  not  lie. 

Ste.  Trinculo,  if  you  trouble  him  any  more  in  's 
tale,  by  this  hand,  I  will  supplant  some  of  your 
teeth. 

Trin.  Why,  I  said  nothing. 

Ste.  Mum,  then,  and  no  more.     Proceed. 

Cal.  I  say,  by  sorcery  he  got  this  isle; 
From  me  he  got  it.     If  thy  greatness   will 
Revenge  it  on  him, — for  I  know  thou  darest, 
But  this  thing  dare  not, — 

Ste.  That's  most  certain. 

Cal.  Thou  shalt  be  lord  of  it  and  I'll  serve  thee. 

Ste.  How  now  shall  this  be  compassed?  Canst 
thou  bring  me  to  the  party? 

Cal.  Yea,  yea,  my  lord :  I'll  yield  him  thee  asleep, 
Where  thou  mayst  knock  a  nail  into  his  head. 

Ari.  Thou  liest;  thou  canst  not. 

Cal.  What    a    pied    ninny's*    this !      Thou    scurvy 

patch ! 

I  do  beseech  thy  greatness,  give  him  blows 
And  take  his  bottle  from  him :  when  that's  gone 
He  shall  drink  nought  but  brine;   for  I'll  not  show 

him 
Where  the  quick  freshes  are. 

*An  allusion  to  the  motley  in  which  -professional  fools 
ivere  always  arrayed,  with  pointed  caps  an  their  heads 
find  mock  sceptres  in  their  hands. 

Ste.  Trinculo,  run  into  no  further  danger :  inter- 
rupt the  monster  one  word  further,  and,  by  this 

57 


Act  in.  THE  TEMPEST. 

hand,  I'll  turn  my  mercy  out  o'  doors  and  make  a 
stock-fish  of  thee.  , 

Trin.  Why,  what  did  I?  I  did  nothing.  I'll  go 
farther  off. 

Ste.  Didst  thou  not  say  he  lied? 

Ari.  Thou  liest. 

Ste.  Do  I  so?  take  thou  that  (Beats  Trin.)  As 
you  like  this,  give  me  the  lie  another  time. 

Trin.  I  did  not  give  the  lie.  Out  o'  your  wits 
and  hearing  too?  A  pox  o'  your  bottle!  this  can 
sack  and  drinking  do.  A  murrain  on  your  monster, 
and  the  devil  take  your  fingers ! 

Cal  Ha,  ha,  ha! 

Ste.  Now,  forward  with  your  tale.  Prithee,  stand 
farther  off. 

Cal.  Beat  him  enough,  after  a  little  time 
I'll  beat  him  too. 

Ste.  Stand  farther.  Come,  proceed. 

Cal.  Why,  as  I  told  thee,  .'tis  a  custom  with  him, 
I'  th'  afternoon  to  sleep :  there  thou  mayst  brain 

him, 

Having  first  seized  his  books,  or  with*  a  log 
Batter  his  skull,  or  paunch  him  with  a  stake, 
Or  cut  his  wezand*  with  thy  knife.     Remember 
First  to  possess  his  books ;  for  without  them 
He's  but  a  sot,*  as  I  am,  nor  hath  not 
One  spirit  to  command :  they  all  do  hate  him 
As  rootedly  as  I.    Burn  but  his  books. 
He  has  brave  utensils, — for  so  he  calls  them, — 
Which,  when  he  has  a  house,  he'll  deck  withal. 
And  that  most  deeply  to  consider  is 
The  beauty  of  his  daughter;  he  himself 
Calls  her  a  nonpareil :  I  never  saw  a  woman. 
But  only  Sycorax  my  dam  and  she ; 
But  she  as  far  surpasseth  Sycorax 
As  great'st  does  least 

*Win<J  pipe. 
*From  tlie  French  sot,  blockhead. 

Ste.  Is  it  so  brave  a  lass? 

58 


THE  TEMPEST.  scene  n. 

Cat.  Ay,  lord ;  she  will  become  thy  bed,  I  warrant. 
And  bring  thee  forth  brave  brood. 

Ste.  Monster,  I  will  kill  this  man :  his  daughter 
and  I  will  be  king  and  queen, — save  our  graces ! — 
and  Trinculo  and  thy  self  shall  be  viceroys.     Dost 
thou  like  the  plot,  Trinculo? 

Trin.  Excellent. 

Ste.  Give  me  thy  hand:  I  am  sorry  I  beat  thee; 
but,  while  thou  livest,  keep  a  good  tongue  in  thy 
head. 

Cal.  Within  this  half  hour  will  he  be  asleep : 
Wilt  thou  destroy  him  then? 

Ste.  Ay,  on  mine  honour. 

Art.  This  will  I  tell  my  master. 

Cal.  Thou  makest  me  merry;  I  am  full  of  pleas- 
ure: 

Let  us  be  jocund :  will  you  troll  the  catch* 
You  taught  me  but  while-ere? 

*To  sing  the  parts  of  a  song  in  succession,  the  singers 
catching  up  one  another's  sentences. 

Ste.  At  thy  request,  monster,  I  will  do  reason,  any 
reason.  Come  on,  Trinculo,  let  us  sing.  (Sings. 

Flout  'em  and  scout  'em 
And  scout  'em  and  flout  'em; 

Thought  is  free. 
Cal.  That's  not  the  tune. 

(Ariel  plays  the  tune  on  a  tabor  and  pipe. 
Ste.  What  is  this  same? 

Trin.  This  is  the  tune  of  our  catch,  played  by  the 
picture  of  Nobody.* 

*The  reference  here  is  to  a  well-known  print,  in  which 
a  man's  head  was  represented  as  resting  on  two  legs 
without  a  body.  Ariel,  it  must  be  remembered,  was  in- 
visible. 

Ste.  If  thou  beest  a  man,  show  thyself  in  thy  like- 
ness :  if  thou  beest  a  devil,  take  't  as  thou  list. 

Trin.  O,  forgive  me  my  sins ! 

Ste.  He  that  dies  pays  all  debts :  I  defy  thee. 
Mercy  upon  us ! 

59 


Act  in.  THE  TEMPEST. 

Col.  Art  thou  afeard? 

Ste.  No,  monster,  not  I. 

Cal.  Be  not  afeard ;  the  isle  is  full  of  noises, 
Sounds  and  sweet   airs,  that  give  delight   and  hurt 

not. 

Sometimes  a  thousand  twangling  instruments 
Will  hum  about  mine  ears,  and  sometimes  voices 
That,  if  I  then  had  waked  after  long  sleep, 
Will  make  me  sleep  again :  and  then,  in  dreaming, 
The  clouds  methought  would  open  and  show  riches 
Ready  to  drop  upon  me,  that,  when  I  waked, 
I  cried  to  dream  again. 

Ste.  This    will    prove    a    brave    kingdom    to    me, 
where  I  shall  have  my  music  for  nothing. 

Cal.  When   Prospero  is  destroyed. 

Ste.  That   shall   be   by   and   by :    I    remember    the 
story. 

Trin.  The   sound    is   going   away;    let's    follow    it, 
and  after  do  our  work. 

Ste.  Lead,  monster;  we'll  follow.     I  would  I  could 
see  this  taborer ;  he  lays  it  on. 

Trin.  Wilt  come?     I'll  follow,  Stephano. 

(Exeunt. 


SCENE  III.— Another  part  of  the  island. 

Enter  ALONZO,  SEBASTIAN,  ANTONIO,  GON- 
ZALO,  ADRIAN,  FRANCISCO,  and  others. 

Gon.  By  'r  lakin,*  I  can  go  no  further,  sir; 
My  old  bones  ache :  here's  a  maze  trod  indeed 
Through  forth-rights  and  meanders  !*     By  your  pa- 
tience, 
I  needs  must  rest  me. 

*An  abbreviation  of  ladykin,  our  lady. 
60 


THE  TEMPEST.  Scene  in. 

*Gonzalo  means  that  the  i>ath  they  were  treading  was 
an  intricate  one,  now  straight  and  now  winding. 

A  Ion.  Old  lord,  I  cannot  blame  thee, 

Who  am  myself  attached  with  weariness, 
To  the  dulling  of  rny  spirits :  sit  down,  and  rest. 
Even  here  I  will  put  off  my  hope  and  keep  it 
No  longer  for  my  flatterer :  he  is  drown' d 
Whom  thus  we  stray  to  find,  and  the  sea  mocks 
Our  frustrate  search  on  land.     Well,  let  him  go. 

Ant.  (Aside  to  Seb.)   I  am  right  glad  that  he's  so 

out  of  hope. 

Do  not,  for  one  repulse,  forego  the  purpose 
That  you  resolved  to  effect. 

Seb.  (Aside  to  Ant.)   The  next  advantage 

Will  we  take  throughly. 

Ant.  (Aside  to  Seb.)  Let  it  be  to-night; 

For,  now  they  are  oppress'd  with  travel,  they 
Will  not,  nor  cannot,  use  such  vigilance 
As  when  they  are  fresh. 

Seb.          (Aside  to  Ant.)  I  say,  to-night:  no  more. 
(Solemn  and  strange  music. 

Alon.  What  harmony  is  this?     My  good  friends, 
hark! 

Gon.  Marvellous  sweet  music! 
Enter  PROSPERO  above,  invisible.     Enter  several 

strange  Shapes,  bringing  in  a  banquet;  they  dance 

about  it  with  gentle  actions  of  salutation;  and,  in- 
viting the  King,  etc.,  to  eat,  they  depart. 

Alon.  Give  us  kind  keepers,  heavens !    What  were 
these  ? 

Seb.  A  living  drollery.     Now  I  will  believe 
That  there  are  unicorns,  that  in  Arabia 
There  is  one  tree,  the  phoenix'  throne,  one  phoenix 
At  this  hour  reigning  there. 

Ant.  I'll  believe  both  ; 

And  what  does  else  want  credit,  come  to  me, 
And  I'll  be  sworn  'tis  true :  travellers  ne'er  did  lie, 
Though  fools  at  home  condemn  'em. 

Gon.  If  in  Naples 

61 


Act  in.  THE  TEMPEST. 

I  should  report  this  now,  would  they  believe  me? 

If  I  should  say,  I  saw  such  islanders — 

For,  certes,  these  are  people  of  the  island — 

Who,  though  they  are  of  monstrous  shape,  yet,  note, 

Their  manners  are  more  gentle-kind  than  of 

Our  human  generation  you  shall  find 

Many,  nay,  almost  any. 

Pros.  (Aside)   Honest  lord, 

Thou  hast  said  well;  for  some  of  you  there  present 
Are  worse  than  devils. 

A  Ion.  I  cannot  too  much  muse 

Such  shapes,  such  gesture  and  such  sound,  express- 
ing, 

Although  they  want  the  use  of  tongue,  a  kind 
Of  excellent  dumb  discourse. 

Pros.  (Aside)    Praise  in  departing. 

Fran.  They  vanish'd  strangely. 
Seb.  No  matter,  since 

They   have   left   their   viands   behind;    for   we   have 

stomachs. 

Will  't  please  you  taste  of  what  is  here? 
Alon.  Not  I. 

Gon.  Faith,    sir,    you    need    not    fear.      When    we 

were  boys, 

Who  would  believe  that  there  were  mountaineers 
Dew-lapp'd   like   bulls,    whose   throats   had   hanging 

at  'em 

Wallets  of  flesh?*  or  that  there  were  such  men 
Whose  heads  stood  in  their  breasts?*  which  now  w& 

find 

Each  putter-out  of  five  for  one*  will  bring  us 
Good  warrant  of. 

*Cf.  Bacon :  "The  people  that  dwell  at  the  foot  of 
snow  mountains,  or  otherwise  upon  the  ascent,  especially 
the  women,  lay  drinking  snow  water,  have  great  bags 
hanging  under  their  throats." — Natural  History. 

*Cf.  Pliny:  "The  Blemmyi,  by  report,  have  no  heads, 
but  mouth  and  eyes  both  in  their  breast." — Natural  His- 
tory. 

*An  allusion  to  a  peculiar  method  of  life  insurance  once 
in  vogue  in  England.  A  person,  going  abroad,  would  put 

62 


THE  TEMPEST.  scene  in. 

out  a  sum  of  money  which  was  to  be  refunded  to  him 
with  a  large  premium  at  his  return.  If  he  should  not 
return ,  the  money  advanced  was  to  be  forfeited  to  the  in- 
surer. The  premium  varied  according  to  the  supposed 
risk,  often  amounting  to  five  times  the  principal. 

Alon.  I  will  stand  to  and  feed, 

Although  my  last:  no  matter,  since  I  feel 
The  best  is  past.     Brother,  my  lord  the  duke, 
Stand  to  and  do  as  we. 
Thunder  and  lightning.    Enter  ARIEL,  like  a  harpy; 

claps  his  wings  upon  the  table;  and,  ivith  a  quaint 

device,  the  banquet  vanishes. 

Ari.  You  are  three  men  of  sin,  whom  Destiny, 
That  hath  to  instrument  this  lower  world 
And  what  is  in  't,  the  never-surfeited  sea 
Hath  caused  to  belch  up  you;  and  on  this  island 
Where  man  doth  not  inhabit ;  you  'mongst  men 
Being  most  unfit  to  live.    I  have  made  you  mad ; 
And    even    with    such-like    valour    men    hang    and 

drown 
Their  proper  selves. 

(Alon.,  Seb.,  etc.,  draw  their  swords. 
You  fools !  I  and  my  fellows 
Are  ministers  of  Fate :  the  elements, 
Of  whom  your  swords  are  temper'd,  may  as  well 
Wound  the  loud  winds,  or  with  bemock'd-at  stabs 
Kill  the  still-closing  waters,  as  diminish 
One  dowle  that's  in  my  plume :  my  fellow-ministers 
Are     like  invulnerable.     If  you  could  hurt, 
Your  swords  are  now  too  massy  for  your  strengths 
And  will  not  be  uplifted.     But  remember — 
For  that's  my  business  to  you — that  you  three 
From  Milan  did  supplant  good  Prospero ; 
Exposed  unto  the  sea,  which  hath  requit  it, 
Him  and  his  innocent  child :  for  which  foul  deed 
The  powers,  delaying,   not   forgetting,  have 
Incensed  the  seas  and  shores,  yea,  all  the  creatures, 
Against  your  peace.     Thee  of  thy  son,  Alonso, 
They  have  bereft ;  and  do  pronounce  by  me : 
Lingering  perdition,  worse  than  any  death 

63 


Act  in.  THE  TEMPEST. 

Can  be  at  once,  shall  step  by  step  attend 

You  and  your  ways ;  whose  wraths  to  guard  you 

from — 

Which  here,  in  this  most  desolate  isle,  else  falls 
Upon  your  heads — is  nothing  but  heart-sorrow 
And  a  clear  life  ensuing. 
He  vanishes  in   thunder;   then,  to  soft  music,  enter 

the    Shapes    again,    and    dance,    with    mocks    and 

mows,  and  carrying  out  the  table. 

Pros.  Bravely  the  figure  of  this  harpy  hast  thou 
Perform'd,  my  Ariel;  a  grace  it  had,  devouring: 
Of  my  instruction  hast  thou  nothing  bated 
In  what  thou  hadst  to  say :  so,  with  good  life 
And  observation  strange,  my  meaner  ministers 
Their    several   kinds   have   done.      My   high   charms 

work 

And  these  mine  enemies  are  all  knit  up 
In  their  distractions ;  they  now  are  in  my  power ; 
And  in  these  fits  I  leave  them,  while  I  visit 
Young   Ferdinand,   whom   they  suppose   is   drown'd, 
And  his  and  mine  loved  darling.  (Exit  above. 

Gon.  F    the    name    of    something    holy,    sir,    why 

stand  you 
In  this  strange  stare? 

Alon.  O,  it  is  monstrous,  monstrous! 

Methought  the  billows  spoke  and  told  me  of  it; 
The  winds  did  sing  it  to  me,  and  the  thunder, 
That  deep  and  dreadful  organ-pipe,  pronounced 
The  name  of  Prosper:  it  did  bass  my  trespass. 
Therefore  my  son  i'  the  ooze  is  bedded,  and 
I'll  seek  him  deeper  than  e'er  plummet  sounded 
And  with  him  there  lie  mudded.  (Exit. 

Seb.  But  one  field  at  a  time, 

I'll  fight  their  legions  o'er. 

Ant.  I'll  be  thy  second. 

(Exeunt  Seb.  and  Ant. 

Gon.  All  three  of  them  are  desperate :  their  great 

guilt, 
Like  poison  given  to  work  a  great  time  after, 

64 


TlIE    TEMPEST.  vSceneIII. 

Now  'gins  to  bite  the  spirits.     I  do  beseech  you 
That  are  of  suppler  joints,  follow  them  swiftly 
And  hinder  them  from  what  this  ecstasy 
May  now  provoke  them  to. 
Adr.  Follow,  I  pray  you.  (Exeunt. 


SCENE  I.— Before  PROSPERO'S  cell. 

Enter  PROSPERO,  FERDINAND,  and 
.     MIRANDA. 

Pros.  If  I  have  loo  austerely  punish'd  you, 
Your  compesation  makes  amends,  for  I 
Have  given  you  here  a  third  of  mine  own  life, 
Or  that  for  which  I  live;  who  once  again 
I  tender  to  thy  hand :  all  thy  vexations 
Were  but  my  trials  of  thy  love,  and  thou 
Hast  strangely  stood  the  test :  here,  afore  Heaven, 
I  ratify  this  my  rich  gift.     O  Ferdinand, 
Do  not  smile  at  me  that  I  boast  her  off, 
For  thou  shalt  find  she  will  outstrip  all  praise 
And  make  it  halt  behind  her. 

Per.  I  do  believe  it 

Against  an  oracle. 

Pros.  Then,  as  my  gift  and  thine  own  acquisition 
Worthily  purchased,  take  my  daughter :  but 
If  thou  dost  break  her  virgin-knot  before 
All  sanctimonious  ceremonies  may 
With  full  and  holy  rite  be  minister'd, 
No  sweet  aspersion*  shall  the  heavens  let  fall 
To  make  this  contract  grow ;  but  barren  hate, 
Sour-eyed  disdain  and  discord  shall  bestrew 
The  union  of  your  bed  with  weeds  so  loathly 
That  you  shall  hate  it  both :  therefore  take  heed,* 
As  Hymen's  lamps  shall  light  you. 
66 


THE  TEMPEST.  Scene i. 

*/'/om  Lat.  aspergere,  to  besprinkle,  as  with  reports, 
good  or  bad. 

*Cf.  Genesis  :  "And  the  Lord  God  commanded  the  man, 
saying,  Of  every  tree  in  the,  garden  thou  mayest  freely 
eat;  but  of  the  tree  of  knowledge  of  good  and  evil,  thou 
shall  not  eat  of  it." — II.,  16-17. 

Per.  As  I  hope 

For  quiet  days,  fair  issue  and  long  life, 
With  such  love  as  'tis  now,  the  murkiest  den, 
The  most  opportune  place,  the  strong'st  suggestion 
Our  worser  genius  can,     shall  never  melt 
Mine  honour  into  lust,  to  take  away 
The  edge  of  that  day's  celebration 
When  I  shall  think,  or  Phoebus'  steeds  are  founder'd, 
Or  Night  kept  chain'd  below. 

Pros.  Fairly  spoke. 

Sit  then  and  talk  with  her;  she  is  thine  own. 
What,  Ariel !  my  industrious  servant,  Ariel ! 

Enter  ARIEL. 

Ari.  What  would  my  potent  master?  here  I  am. 
Pros.  Thou  and  thy  meaner  fellows  your  last  ser- 
vice 

Did  worthily  perform ;  and  I  must  use  you 
In  such  another  trick.     Go  bring  the  rabble, 
O'er  whom  I  give  thee  power,  here  to  this  place : 
Incite  them  to  quick  motion;   for  I  must 
Bestow  upon  the  eyes  of  this  young  couple 
Some  vanity*  of  mine  art:  it  is  my  promise, 
And  they  expect  it  from  me. 
*  Illusion. 

Ari.  Presently? 

Pros.  Ay,  with  a  twink. 

Ari.  Before  you  can  say  'come'  and  go,' 

And  breathe  twice  and  cry  'so,  so,' 

Each  one,  tripping  on  his  toe, 

Will  be  here  with  mop  and  mow. 

Do  you  love  me,  master?  no? 

Pros.  Dearly,  my  delicate  Ariel.    Do  not  approach 
Till  thou  dost  hear  me  call. 

67 


Act  iv.  THE  TEMPEST. 

Ari.  Well,  I  conceive,     (Exit. 

Pros.  Look  thou  be  true;  do  not  give  dalliance 
Too  much  the  rein :  the  strongest  oaths  are  straw 
To  the  fire  i'  the  blood :  be  more  abstemious, 
Or  else,  good-night  your  vow ! 

Fer.  I  warrant  you,  sir; 

The  white  cold  virgin  snow  upon  my  heart 
Abates  the  ardour  of  my  liver.* 

*Cf.  "Love's  Labor  Lost"  : — 

"Tliis  is  the  liver-rein,,  which  makes  flesh  a  deity.1'1 

jy      3 

'Also  "The  Merry  Wives  of  Windsor": — 

"Ford    (referring   to  Falstaff).    Love  my   wife! 
With  liver  burning  hot."  — II.,  1. 

Bacon :  "Plato's  opinion,  who  located  sensuality  in 
the  liver,  is  not  to  be  despised." — Advancement  of  Learn- 
ing. 

Pros.  Well. 

Now  come,  my  Ariel !  bring  a  corollary,* 
Rather  than  want  a  spirit :  appear,  and  pertly ! 
No  tongue !  all  eyes !  be  silent.  (Soft  music. 

*From  Lat.  corolic,  a  small  wreath,  used  to  indicate  an 
overplus,  or  more  than  sufficient. 

Enter  IRIS. 

Iris.  Ceres,  most  bounteous  lady,  thy  rich  leas 
Of  wheat,  rye,  barley,  vetches,  oats  and  pease; 
Thy  turfy  mountains,  where  live  nibbling  sheep, 
And  flat  meads  thatch'd  with  stover,  them  to  keep; 
Thy  banks  with  pinioned  and  twilled  brims,* 
Which  spongy  April  at  thy  hest  betrims, 
To    make    cold    nymphs    chaste    crowns ;    and    thy 

broom-groves 

Whose   shadow  the  dismissed  bachelor   loves, 
Being  lass-lorn;  thy  pole-clipt  vineyard; 
And  thy  sea-marge,  sterile  and  rocky-hard, 
Where  thou  thyself  dost  air; — the  queen  o'  the  sky, 
Whose  watery  arch  and  messenger  am  I, 
Bids  thee  leave  these,  and  with  her  sovereign  grace, 
Here  on  this  grass-plot,  in  this  very  place, 
To  come  and  sport :  her  peacocks  fly  amain : 

68 


THE  TEMPEST.  scene  i. 

Approach,  rich  Ceres,  her  to  entertain. 

*  Aquatic  plants  found  in  the  margins  of  streams. 

Enter  CERES. 

Cer.  Hail,  many-colour'd  messenger,  that  ne'er 
Dost  disobey  the  wife  of  Jupiter; 
Who  with  thy  saffron  wings  upon  my  flowers 
Diffusest  honey-drops,*  refreshing  showers, 
And  with  each  end  of  thy  blue  bow  dost  crown 
My  bosky  acres  and  my  unshrubb'd  down, 
Rich  scarf  to  my  proud  earth ;  why  hath  thy  queen 
Summon'd  me  hither,  to  this  short-grass'd  green? 

*The  dramatist  calls  Iris,  as  Homer  does,  the  personi- 
fication of  the  rainbow.  He  also  gives  expression  to  a 
belief  of  the  ancients,  that  where  the  ends  of  the  rain- 
bow touch  the  earth,  they  sweeten  it. 

Cf.  Bacon  :  "It  hath  been  observed  by  the  ancients 
that  where  a  rainbow  seemeth  to  hang  over  or  to  touch, 
Uierc  breathed  forth  a  sweet  smell  .  .  .  and  the  like  do 
soft  showers,  for  they  also  make  the  ground  sweet.  But 
none  are  so  delicate  as  the  dew  of  the  rainbow,  where  it 
falleth." — Natural  History. 

Showers  and  the  earth's  "rich  scarf"  diffuse  honey- 
drops. — Shakespeare. 

Showers  and  the  rainbow  make  the  ground  sweet. — 
Bacon. 

Iris.  A  contract  of  true  love  to  celebrate; 
And  some  donation  freely  to  estate 
On  the  blest  lovers. 

Cer.  Tell  me,  heavenly  bow, 

If  Venus  or  her  son,  as  thou  dost  know, 
Do  now  attend  the  queen  ?     Since  they  did  plot 
The  means  that  dusky  Dis  my  daughter  got,* 
Her  and  her  blind  boy's  scandal'd  company 
I  have  forsworn. 

*Cf.  Bacon  :  "Prosperina,  daughter  of  Ceres,  a  fair  vir- 
gin, was  gathering  flowers  of  Narcissus  in  the  Sicillian 
meadows,  when  Pluto  rushed  suddenly  upon  her  and  car- 
ried her  off  in  his  chariot  to  the  subterranean  regions. 
Great  reverence  was  paid  to  her  there,  so  much  that  she 
was  even  called  the  Queen  of  Dis." — Wisdom  of  the  An- 
cien  ts. 

Iris.  Of  her  society 


Act  iv.  THE  TEMPEST. 

Be  not  afraid:  I  met  her  deity 

Cutting  the  clouds  towards  Paphos  and  her  son 

Dove-drawn  with  her.     Here  thought  they  to  have 

done 

Some  wanton  charm  upon  this  man  and  maid, 
Whose  vows  are,  that  no  bed-right  shall  be  paid 
Till  Hymen's  torch  be  lighted :  but  in  vain ; 
Mars's  hot  minion  is   returned  again ; 
Her  waspish-headed  son  has  broke  his  arrows, 
Swears  he  will  shoot  no  more  but  play  with  spar- 
rows 
And  be  a  boy  right  out. 

Cer.  High'st  queen  of  state, 

Great  Juno,  conies ;  I  know  her  by  her  gait. 

Enter  JUNO. 

Juno.  How  does  my  bounteous  sister?  Go  with  me 
To  bless  this  twain,  that  they  may  prosperous  be 
And  honour'd  in  their  issue.  (They  sing: 

Juno.  Honour,  riches,  marriage-blessing, 
Long  continuance,  and  increasing, 
Hourly  joys  be  still  upon  you ! 
Juno  sings  her  blessings  on  you. 
Cer.     Earth's  increase,  foison  plenty, 
Barns  and  garners  never  empty, 
Vines  with  clustering  bunches  growing, 
Plants  with  goodly  burthen  bowing; 
Spring  come  to  you  at  the  farthest 
In  the  very  end  of  harvest ! 
Scarcity  and  want  shall  shun  you; 
Ceres'  blessing  so  is  on  you. 
Per.  This  is  a  most  majestic  vision,  and 
Harmonious  charmingly.     May  I  be  bold 
To  think  these  spirits? 

Pros.  Spirits,  which  by  mine  art 

I  have  from  their  confines  call'd  to  enact 
My  present  fancies. 

Per.  Let  me  live  here  ever ; 

So  rare  a  wonder'd  father  and  a  wife 
70 


THE  TEMPEST.  scene  i. 

Makes  this  place  Paradise. 

(Juno  and  Ceres  whisper,  and  send 
Iris  on  employment. 

Pros.  Sweet,  now,  silence  ! 

Juno  and  Ceres  whisper  seriously ; 
There's  something  else  to  do :  hush,  and  be  mute, 
Or  else  our  spell  is  marr'd 
Ins.  You  nymphs,  caird  Naiads,  of  the  windring 

brooks, 

With  your  sedged  crowns  and  ever-harmless  looks, 
Leave  your  crisp  channels  *and  on  this  green  land 
Answer  your  summons ;  Juno  does  command : 
Come,  temperate  nymphs,  and  help  to  celebrate 
A  contract  of  true  love ;  be  not  too  late. 

Enter  certain  NYMPHS. 
You  sunburnt  sicklemen,  of  August  weary, 
Come  hither  from  the  furrow  and  be  merry : 
Make  holiday ;  your  rye-straw  hats  put  on 
And  these  fresh  nymphs  encounter  every  one 
In  country  footin. 

* Winding  or  indented  channels. 

Enter    certain    REAPERS,    properly    habited:    they 
join    with    the    NYMPHS    in    a   graceful   dance; 
towards  the  end  whereof  PROSPERO  starts  sud- 
denly, and  speaks;  after  which,  to  a  strange  hol- 
low, and  confused  noise,  they  heavily  vanish. 
Pros.   (Aside)   I  had  forgot  that  foul  conspiracy 
Of  the  beast  Caliban  and  his  confederates 
Against  my  life :  the  minute  of  their  plot 
Is    almost    come.      (To    the    Spirits.)      Well    done! 
avoid  ;*  no  more ! 

*Be  gone. 

Cf.  Bacon  :  "I  remember  well  that  when  I  went  to  the 
echo  at  Pont-Chaventon  there  was  an  old  aPrisian  who 
took  it  to  be  the  work  of  spirits,  and  of  good  spirits.  For 
(said  he)  call  Satan  and  the  echo  will  not  deliver  hack 
the  devil's  name)  l)ut  will  say,  va  t'en,  which  is  as  much 
in,  French  as  apage  or  avoid/' — Natural  History. 

Per.  This  is  strange :  your  father's  in  some  passion 
That  works  him  strongly. 


Act  iv.  THE  TEMPEST. 

Mir.  Never  till  this  day 

Saw  I\  him  touch'd  with  anger  so  distemper'd. 

Pros. 'You  do  look,  my  son,  in  a  moved  sort, 
As  if  you  were  dismay'd :  be  cheerful,  sir, 
Our  revels  now  are  ended.     These  our  actors, 
As  I  foretold  you,  were  all  spirits  and 
Are  melted  into  air,  into  thin  air; 
And,  like  the  baseless  fabric  of  this  vision, 
The  cloud-capp'd  towers,  the  gorgeous  palaces, 
The  solemn  temples,  fche  great  globe  itself, 
Yea,  all  which  it  inherit,*  shall  dissolve 
And,  like  this  insubstantial  pageant  faded, 
Leave  not  a  rack*  behind.     We  are  such  stuff 
As  dreams  are  made  on,  and  our  little  life 
Is  rounded  with  a  sleep.     Sir,  I  am  vex'd ; 
Bear  with  my  weakness ;  my  old  brain  is  troubled : 
Be  not  disturbed  with  my  infirmity : 
If  you  be  pleased,  retire  into  my  cell 
And  there  repose :  a  turn  or  two  I'll  walk, 
To  still  my  beating  mind. 

*From  Lat.  inherere,  to  cling  or  belong  to. 

*Cf.    Bacon :     "The   clouds    abore   which    we   call    the 
rack/' — Natural  History. 

The  word  is  unfortunately  changed  to  "wreck"  in  the 
inscription  on  Shakespeare's  monument  in  Westminster 
Abbey,  erected  in  1740. 

Per.  Mir.  We  wish  you  peace.     (Exeunt. 

Pros.  Come  with  a  thought.     I  thank  thee,  Ariel : 
come. 

Enter  ARIEL. 

Art.  Thy  thoughts  I  cleave  to.     What's  thy  pleas- 
ure? 

Pros.  Spirit, 

We  must  prepare  to  meet  with  Caliban. 

Art.  Ay,  my  commander :  when  I  presented  Ceres, 
I  thought  to  have  told  thee  of  it,  but  I  fear'd 
Lest  I  might  anger  thee. 

Pros.  Say    again,    where    didst    them    leave    these 
varlets  ? 

72 


THE  TEMPEST.  scene  i. 

ATI.  I  told  you,  sir,  they  were  red-hot  with  drink- 
ing; 

So  full  of  valour  that  they  smote  the  air 
For  breathing  in  their  faces ;  beat  the  ground 
For  kissing  of  their  feet;  yet  always  bending 
Towards  their  project.    Then  I  beat  my  tabor; 
At  which,  like  unback'd  colts,  they  prick'd  their  ears, 
Advanced  their  eyelids,  lifted  up  their  noses 
As  they  smelt  music:  so  I  charm'd  their  ears 
That  calf-like  they  my  lowing  follow'd  through 
Tooth'd    briers,    sharp  .furzes,    pricking    goss     and 

thorns, 

Which  entered  their  frail  shins :  at  last  I  left  them 
F  the  filthy-mantled  pool  beyond  your  cell, 
There  dancing  up  to  the  chins,  that  the  foul  lake 
O'erstunk  their  feet. 

Pros.  This  was  well  done,  my  bird. 

Thy  shape  invisible  retain  thou  still : 
The  trumpery  in  my  house,  go  bring  it  hither, 
For  stale  to  catch  these  thieves. 

Art.  I  go,  I  go.     (Exit. 

Pros.  A  devil,  a  born  devil,  on  whose  nature 
Nurture  can  never  stick;  on  whom  my  pains, 
Humanely  taken,  all,  all  lost,  quite  lost; 
A|nd  as  with  age  his  body  uglier  grows, 
So  his  mind  cankers.*    I  will  plague  them  all, 
Even  to  roaring. 

Re-enter  ARIEL,  loaden  with  glistering  apparel,  etc. 
Come,  hang  them  on  this   line.* 

PROSPERO  and  ARIEL  remain,  invisible.  Enter 
CALIBAN,  STEPHANO,  and  TRINCULO,  all 
wet. 

*Cf.  Lucretius  : 

Also,  Bacon  :  "Old  age,  if  it  could  be  seen,  deforms 
the  mind  more  than  the  body." — De  Augmentis. 

Also,  ibid:  "I  remember,  when  I  icas  a  young  man  at 
Poictiers  in  France,  that  I  was  rcn/  intimate  with  a 
young  Frenchman  of  great  wit,  but  somewhat  talkative, 
who  afterwards  turned  out  a  very  eminent  man.  He  used 
to  inveigh  against  the  manners  of  old  men,  and  say  that 

73 


Act  iv.  THE  TEMPEST. 

if  their  minds  could  be  seen  as  well  as  their  bodies,  that 
would  appear  no  less  deformed;  and  further  indulging 
his  fancy,  he  argued  that  the  defects  of  their  minds  had 
some  parallel  and  correspondence  with  those  of  the  body." 
— History  of  Life  and  Death. 

*That  is,  on  this  line  (or  lime)  tree. 

*  Cat.  Pray  you,   tread   softly,   that  the  blind  mole 

may  not 
Hear  a  foot  fall :  we  now  are  near  his  cell. 

Ste.  Monster,  your  fairy,  which  you  say  is  a  harm- 
less fairy,  has  done  little  better  than  played  the  Jack 

with  us.* 

* Deceived  us. 

Cf.  "Romeo  and  Juliet"  : — 

"An  fa  speak  anything  against  me,  I'll  take  him  down, 
an  'a  were  lustier  than  he  is,  and  twenty  such  Jacks."— 
II.,  4. 

Trin.  Monster,  I  do  smell  all  horse-piss ;  at  which 
my  nose  is  in  great  indignation. 

Ste.  So  is  mine.     Do     you  hear,   monster?     If  I 
should  take  a   displeasure  against  you,   look  you, — 

Trin.  Thou  wert  but  a  lost  monster. 

Cal.  Good  my  lord,  give  me  thy  favour  still. 
Be  patient,  for  the  prize  I'll  bring  thee  to 
Shall    hoodwink    the     mischance :     therefore     speak 

softly. 
All's  hush'd  as  midnight  yet. 

Trin.  Ay,  but  to  lose  our  bottles  in  the  pool, — 

Ste.  There  is  not  only  disgrace  and  dishonour  in 
that,  monster,  but  an  infinite  loss. 

Trin.  That's   more   to   me   than   my   wetting:    yet 
this  is  your  harmless  fairy,  monster. 

Ste.  I  will  fetch  off  my  bottle,  though  I  be  o'er 
ears  for  my  labour. 

Cal.  Prithee,  my  king,  be  quiet.     See'st  thou  here, 
This  is  the  mouth  o'  the  cell :  no  noise,  and  enter. 
Do  that  good  mischief  which  may  make  this  island 
Thine  own  for  ever,  and  I,  thy  Caliban, 
For  aye  thy  foot-licker. 

Ste.  Give    me    thy    hand.      I    do    begin    to    have 
bloody  thoughts. 

74 


THE  TEMPEST.  Scene  i. 

Trin.  O  king  Stephano  !*  O  peer!  O  worthy  Ste- 
phano!  look  what  a  wardrobe  here  is  for  thee ! 

*Cf.  "Othello": — 

King  Stephano  was  a  ivorthy  peer, 
His  breeches  cost  him  but  a  crown; 
He  held  them  sixpence  all  too  dear, 
With  that  he  calle'd  the  tailor — lowri. 
He  was  a  wight  of  high  renown, 

And  thou  art  but  of  low  degree; 
'Tis  pride  that  pulls  the  country  down, 
Then  take  thine  auld  cloak  about  thee." 

—II.,  3,  88. 

Ths  popular  ballad  was  written  in  ridicule  of  King 
Stephano's  parsimony. 

Col.  Let  it  alone,  thou  fool !  it  is  but  trash. 

Trin.  O,  ho,  monster!  we  know  what  belongs  to 
a  frippery.  O  king  Stephano ! 

Ste.  Put  off  that  gown,  Trinculo;  by  this  hand, 
I'll  have  that  gown. 

Trin.  Thy  grace  shall  have  it. 

Cat.  The  dropsy  drown    this    fool !    what    do    you 

mean 

To  dote  thus  on  such  luggage?     Let's  alone 
And  do  the  murder  first :  if  he  awake, 
From  toe  to  crown  he'll  fill  our  skins  with  pinches, 
Make  us  strange  stuff. 

Ste.  Be  you  quiet,  monster.  Mistress  line,  is  not 
this  my  jerkin?  Now  is  the  jerkin  under  the  line: 
now,  jerkin,  you  are  like  to  lose  your  hair  and  prove 
a  bald  jerkin. 

Trin.  Do,  do :  we  steal  by  line  and  level,  an't  like 
your  grace. 

Ste.  I  thank  thee  for  that  jest;  here's  a  garment 
for  't:  wit  shall  not  go  unrewarded  while  I  am  king 
of  this  country.  'Steal  by  line  and  level'  is  an  ex- 
cellent pass  of  pate;  there's  another  garment  for  't. 

Trin.  Monster,  come,  put  some  lime  upon  your 
fingers,  and  away  with  the  rest. 

Col.  I  will  have  none  on  't :  we  shall  lose  out  time, 
And  all  be  turn'd  to  barnacles,*  or  to  apes 
With  foreheads  villanous  low. 

75 


Act  iv.  THE  TEMPEST. 

*A  species  of  goose,  once  thought  to  be  developed  out 
of  shell  fish  that  bore  into  ships'  bottoms,  in  salt 
water.  Hence  the  name..  Max  Muller  asserts  that  in 
Ireland  priests  were  formerly  accustomed  to  eat  them 
during  Lent,  under  the  impression  that  they  were  not 
birds,  but  fish. 

Ste.  Monster,  lay-to  your  fingers :  help  to  bear  this 
away  where  my  hogshead  of  wine  is,  or  I'll  turn  you 
out  of  my  kingdom :  go  to,  carry  this. 

Trin.     And  this. 

Ste.  Ay,  and  this. 
A   noise  of  hunters  heard.     Enter  divers  Spirits,  in 

shape  of  dogs  and  hounds,  and  hunt  them  about, 

PROSPERO  and  ARIEL  setting  them  on. 

Pros.  Hey.  Mountain,  hey ! 

Ari.  Silver!  there  it  goes,  Silver! 

Pros.  Fury,    Fury !    there,    Tyrant,    there !    hark ! 
hark!         (Cat.,  Ste.,  and  Trin.  are  driven  out. 
Go  charge  my  goblins  that  they  grind  their  joints 
With  dry  convulsions,  shorten  up  their  sinews 
With    aged    cramps,   and   more    pinch-spotted    make 

them 
Than  pard  or  cat  o'  mountain. 

Ari.  Hark,  they  roar  ! 

Pros.  Let  them  be  hunted  soundly.     At  this  hour 
Lie  at  my  mercy  all  mine  enemies : 
Shortly  shall  all  my  labours  end,  and  thou 
Shalt  have  the  air  at  freedom :  for  a  little 
Follow,  and  do  me  service.  (Exeunt. 


SCENE  I.— Before  PROSPERO'S  cell. 
Enter  PROSPERO  in  his  magic  robes,  and  ARIEL. 

Pros.  Now  does  my  project  gather  to  a  head: 
My  charms  crack  not;  my  spirits  obey;  and  time 
Goes  upright  with  his  carriage.  How's  the  day? 

Ari.  On  the  sixth  hour;  at  which  time,  my  lord, 
You  said  our  work  should  cease. 

Pros.  I  did  say  so, 

When  first  I  raised  the  tempest.     Say,  my  spirit, 
How  fares  the  king  and  's  followers? 

Ari.  Confined  together 

In  the  same  fashion  as  you  gave  in  charge, 
Just  as  you  left  them;   all  prisoners,   sir, 
In  the  line-grove  which  weather- fends  your  cell ; 
They  cannot  budge  till  your  release.     The  king, 
His  brother  and  yours,  abide  all  three  distracted 
And  the  remainder  mourning  over  them, 
Brimful  of  sorrow  and  dismay;  but  chiefly 
Him  that  you  term'd,  sir,  The  good  old  lord,  Gon- 

zalo;' 

His  tears  run  down  his  beard,  like  winter's  drops 
From  eaves  of  reeds.   Your  charm  so  strongly  works 

Jem 

That  if  you  now  beheld  them,  your  affections 
Would  become  tender. 

Pros.  Dost  thou  think  so,  spirit? 

Ari.  Mine  would,  sir,  were  I  human. 

77 


Actv.  THE  TEMPEST. 

Pros.  And  mine  shall. 

Hast  thou,  which  art  but  air,  a  touch,  a  feeling 
Of  their  afflictions,  and  shall  not  myself, 
One  of  their  kind,  that  relish  all  as  sharply, 
Passion     as  they,  be  kindlier  moved  than  thou  art? 
Though  with  their  high  wrongs  I  am  struck  to  the 

quick, 

Yet  with  my  nobler  reason  'gainst  my  fury 
Do  I  take  part:  the  rarer  action  is 
In  virtue  than  in  vengeance  :*  they  being  penitent, 
The  sole  drift  of  my  purpose  doth  extend 
Not  a  frown  further.     Go  release  them,  Ariel : 
My  charms  I'll  break,  their  senses  I'll  restore, 
And  they  shall  be  themselves. 

*Cf.   Bacons  "In  taking  revenge,  a    man  is    but  even 
with  his  enemy;  but  in  passing  it  over,  he  is  superior." 

— Essay  of  Revenge. 

Ari.  I'll  fetch  them,  sir.      (Exit. 

Pros.  Ye    elves    of   hills,   brooks,*   standing   lakes 

and  groves, 

And  ye  that  on  the  sands  with  printless  foot 
Do  chase  the  ebbing  Neptune  and  do  fly  him 
When  he  comes  back;  you  demi-puppets  that 
By  moonshine  do  the  green  sour  ringlets  make,* 
Whereof  the  ewe  not  bites,  and  you  whose  pastime 
Is  to  make  mindnight  mushrooms*  that  rejoice 
To  hear  the  solemn  curfew*  by  whose  aid, 
Weak  masters  though  ye  be,  I  have  bedimm'd 
The  noontide  sun,  call'd  forth  the  mutinous  winds, 
And  'twixt  the  green  sea  and  the  azured  vault 
Set  roaring  war:  to  the  dread  rattling  thunder 
Have  I  given  fire  and  rifted  Jove's  stout  oak 
With  his  own  bolt;  the  strong-based  promontory 
Have  I  made  shake  and  by  the  spurs  pluck'd  up 
The  pine  and  cedar :  graves  at  my  command 
Have  waked  their  sleepers,  oped,  and  let  'em  forth 
By  my  so  potent  art.     But  this  rough  magic 
I  here  abjure,  and,  when  I  have  required 
Some  heavenly  music,  which  even  now  I  do, 

78 


THE  TEMPEST.  scene  i. 

To  work  mine  end  upon  their  senses  that 
This  airy  charm  is  for,  I'll  break  my  staff, 
Bury  it  certain  fathoms  in  the  earth, 
And  deeper  than  did  ever  plummet  sound 
I'll  drown  my  book.  (Solemn  music. 

*Some  words  and  phrases  of  this  speech  are  taken 
from  Golding's  translation  of  the  Metamophoses  of 
Ovid,  published  in  1567..  It  is  perfectly  certain,  how- 
ever, that  in  other  passages  derived  from  Ovid  the 
dramatist  went  directly  to  the  original.  In  Macbeth, 
for  instance,  he  mentions  one  of  Actacon's  dogs,  not  by 
the  English  name  into  which  it  is  converted  by  Golding, 
but  by  the  one  that  Ovid  himself  used*  in  Latin.  Prof. 
Kaynes  gives  another  illustration  to  the  same  effect, 
thus — 

"The  important  point  to  be  noted  is,  that  Shakes- 
peare clearly  derived  it  (name  of  Titania)  from  his 
study  of  Ovid  in  the  original.  It  must  hare  struck  him 
in  reading  the  text  of  the  "Metamorphoses,"  as  it  is  not 
to  be  found  in  the  only  translation  which  existed  in  his 
<l(ty.  Golding,  instead  of  transferring  the  term  of  Titania, 
always  translates  it  in  the  case  of  Diana,  by  the  phrase 
"Titian's  Daughter,"  and  in  the  case  of  Circe  by  the  line, 
"Of  Circe,  who  by  long  descent  of  Titian's  stock." 
Shakespeare  could  not  therefore  have  been  indebted  to 
Golding  for  the  happy  selection.  On  the  other  hand,  in 
the  next  translation  of  The  "Metamorphoses"  by  Sandys, 
first  published  ten  years  after  Shakespeare's  death,  Ti- 
tania is  freely  used.  .  .  .  It  is  clear,  therefore,  I  think, 
that  Shakespeare  not  only  studied  the  "Metamorphoses" 
in  the  original,  but  that  he  read  the  different  stories  (in 
Latin)  with  a  quick  and  open  eye  for  any  names,  inci- 
dent or  allusion  that  might  be  available  for  use  in  his 
oicn  dramatic  labors." — Shakespeare  Studies,  p.  212. 

*Ringlets  of  grass,  supposed  to  be  made  by  fairies, 
dancing  in  circles. 

*That  is,  mushrooms,  once  regarded  as  the  special 
product  of  fairies  in  their  night  work. 

Cf.  Bacon :  "Mushrooms  have  two  strange  proper- 
ties :  the  one,  that  they  yield  so  delicious  a  meat;  the 
other,  that  they  come  up  so  hastily,  as  in  a  night, 
without  being  sown." — Natural  History. 

*From  the  French  ivords  convir,  to  cove)~,  and  feu, 
fire. 

The  bell  rung  at  night-fall,  here  mentioned  as  a  sig- 
nal for  the  fairies  to  begin  their  revels.  The  custom  of 
ringing  a  curfew  was  instituted  in  the  time  of  William, 
Ilie  Conqueror.  It  is  still  in  practice  in  many  places. 

Re-enter   ARIEL    before:    then    ALONSO,    with   a 
79 


Actv.  THE  TEMPEST. 

frantic  gesture,  attended  by  GONZALO ;  SE- 
BASTIAN and  ANTONIO  in  like  manner,  at- 
tended by  ADRIAN  and  FRANCISCO :  they  all 
enter  the  circle  which  PROSPERO  had  made, 
and  there  stand  charmed;  which  PROSPERO 
observing,  speaks: 

A  solemn  ai'r  and  the  best  comforter 
To  an  unsettled  fancy  cure  thy  brains,* 
Now  useless,  boiled  within  thy  skull  !*    There  stand, 
For  you  are  spell-stopp'd. 
Holy  Gonzalo,  honourable  man, 
Mine  eyes,  even  sociable  to  the  show  of  thine, 
Fall  fellowly  drops.    The  charm  dissolves  apace, 
And  as  the  morning  steals  upon  the  night, 
Melting  the  darkness,  so  their  rising  senses 
Begin  to  chase  the  ignorant  fumes  that  mamie 
Their  clearer  reason.     O  good  Gonzalo, 
My  true  preserver,  and  a  loyal  sir 
To  him  thou  follow'st !  I  will  pay  thy  graces 
Home  both  in  word  and  deed.     Most  cruelly 
Didst  thou,  Alonso,  use  me  and  my  daughter : 
Thy  brother  was  a  further  in  the  act. 
Thou  art  pinch'd  for  't  now,  Sebastian.     Flesh  and 

blood, 

You,  brother  mine,  that  entertain'd  ambition, 
Expell'd  remorse*  and  nature;  who,  with  Sebastian, 
Whose  inward  pinches  therefore  are  most  strong, 
Would  here  have  kill'd  your  king ;  I  do  forgive  thee, 
Unnatural  though  thou  art.     Their  understanding 
Begins   to  swell,   and  the   approaching  tide 
Will  shortly  fill  the  reasonable  shore 
That  now  lies  foul  and  muddy.     Not  one  of  them 
That  yet  looks  on  me,  or  would  know  me :   Ariel, 
Fetch  the  the  hat  and  rapier  in  my  cell : 
I  will  disease  me,  and  myself  present 
As  I  was  sometime  Milan:  quickly,  spirit; 
Thou  shalt  ere  long  be  free. 

ARIEL  sings  and  helps  to  attire  him. 
So 


THE  TEMPEST.  scene  i. 

Where  the  bee  sucks,  there  such  I : 
In  a  cowslip's  bell  I  lie ; 
There  I  couch  when  owls  do  cry. 
On  the  bat's  back  I  do  fly 
After  summer  merrily. 
Merrily,  merrily  shall  I  live  now 
Under  the  blossom  that  hangs  on  the  bough. 
*Cf.  "King  Richard  II."  : 

"This  music  mads  me;   let  it  sound  no  more; 

For  it  have  holp  madmen  to  their  wits, 

In  me  it  seems  it  will  make  icise  men  sad." 

V.   5,  61. 

Also  Prof.  Elze :  "Shakespeare  must  have  had  an  op- 
portunity of  observing  (a  person  or)  persons  afflicted  in 
mind.  Prof.  Neuman  very  justly  remarks  concerning 
Ophelia's  case :  "When  could  Shakespeare  have  known 
that  persons  thus  afflicted  decorate  themselves  with 
flowers,  offer  them  to  other  people,  and  sing  away  to 
themselves;  I  myself  cannot  conceive  where."  Dr.  Buck- 
nill  even  maintains  that  watching  persons  mentally  af- 
\icted  must  have  been  a  favorite  study  of  Shakespeare's. 

Life  of  William  Shakespeare. 

"Shakespeare  knew,  however  he  acquired  the  knowl- 
edge, the  phenomena  of  insanity  as  few  have  known 
them." — Goethe. 

Bacon  wrote  to  Queen  Elizabeth  in  the  spring  of  1600 
that  his  mother  was  "much  worn" ;  soon  afterward, 
perhaps  at  the  death  of  her  son  Anthony  in  1601,  she 
became  violently  insane,  and  continued  so  under  the  sole, 
unremitting  care  of  her  only  surviving  son  Francis  un- 
til her  death  in  1610.  It  was  during  this  period  that 
"King  Lear''  and  the  revised  version  of  "Hamlet"  were 
written.  The  author's  portrayal  of  insanity  in  these 
plays  is  still  regarded  by  specialists  as  a  psychological 
marvel. 

*Cf.   "A   Midsummer  Night's  Dream":.. 
"Lovers   and   madmen   have  such  seething   brains." 

V.  1. 

Also  "Twelfth  Night"  : 
"If  I  lose  a  scruple  of  this  sport,   let  me  be  boiled 

to  death  with  melancholy."  II.   5. 

'Also,  Bacon:  "The  vital  spirit  resides  in  the  ventri- 
cles of  the  brain,  and,  being  compounded  of  flame  and 
air,  has  in  it  a  degree  of  inflammation.  .  .  .  It  is  the 
emission  of  the  spirit  thence  that  contracts  the  body; 
the  detention  there  that  melts  it." 

Historia  Densi  et  Rayi. 

Pros.  Why,  that's  my  dainty  Ariel!  I  shall  miss 
thee ; 

81 


Actv.  THE  TEMPEST. 

But  yet  thou  shalt  have  freedom :  so,  so,  so. 
To  the  king's  ship,  invisible  as  thou  art: 
There  shalt  thou  find  the  mariners  asleep 
Under  the  hatches;  the  master  and  the  boatswain 
Being  awake,  enforce  them  to  this  place, 
And  presently,   I  prithee. 

Ari.  I  drink  the  air  before  me,  and  return 
Or  ere  your  pulse  twice  beat.  (Exit. 

Gon.  All    torment,    trouble,    wonder    and    amaze- 
ment 

Inhabits  here :  some  heavenly  power  guide  us 
Out  of  this  fearful  country! 

Pros.  Behold,  sir  king, 

The  wronged  Duke  of  Milan,  Prospero : 
For  more  assurance  that  a  living  prince 
Does  now  speak  to  thee,  I  embrace  thy  body; 
And  to  thee  and  thy  company  I  bid 
A  hearty  welcome. 

A  Ion.  Whether  thou  be'st  he  or  no 

Or  some  enchanted  trifle  to  abuse  me, 
As  late  as  I  have  been,  I  not  know :  thy  pulse 
Beats  as  of  flesh  and  blood;  and,  since  I  saw  thee, 
The  affliction  of  my  mind  amends,  with  which, 
I  fear,  a  madness  held  me :  this  must  crave, 
An  if  this  be  at  all,  a  most  strange  story. 
Thy  dukedom  I  resign  and  do  entreat 
Thou  pardon  me  my  wrongs.    But  how  should  Pros- 
pero 
Be  living  and  be  here? 

Pros.  First,  noble  friend, 

Let  me  embrace  thine  age,  whose  honour  cannot 
Be  measured  or  confined. 

Gon.  Whether  this  be 

Or  be  not,  I'll  not  swear. 

Pros.  You  do  yet  taste 

Some  subtleties  o'  the  isle,  that  will  not  let  you 
Believe  things   certain.     Welcome,   my    friends   all! 
(Aside  to  Seb.  and  Ant.}     But    you,    my    brace    of 
lords,  were  I  so  minded, 

82 


THE  TEMPEST.  scene  i. 

I  here  could  pluck  his  highness'  frown  upon  you 
And  justify  you  traitors:  at  this  time 
I  will  tell  no  tales. 

Seb.  (Aside)  The  devil  speaks  in  him. 

Pros.  No. 

For  you,  most  wicked  sir,  whom  to  call  brother 
Would  even  infect  my  mouth,  I  do  forgive 
Thy  rankest  fault;  all  of  them;  and  require 
My  dukedom  of  thee,  which  perforce,  I  know, 
Thou  must  restore. 

Alon.  If  thou  be'st  Prospero, 

Give  us  particulars  of  thy  preservation; 
How  thou  hast  met  us  here,  who  three  hours  since 
Were  wreck'd  upon  this  shore;  where  I  have  lost — 
How  sharp  the  point  of  this  remembrance  is ! — 
My  dear  son  Ferdinand. 

Pros.  I  am  woe  for  't,  sir.* 

*  Sorry. 

Alon.  Irreparable  is  the  loss,  and  patience 
Says  it  is  past  her  cure. 

Pros.  I  rather  think 

You  have  not  sought  her  help,  of  whose  soft  grace 
For  the  like  loss  I  have  her  sovereign  aid 
And  rest  myself  content. 

Alon.  You  the  like  loss! 

Pros.  As  great  to  me  as  late;  and,  supportable 
To  make  the  dear  less,  have  I  means  much  weaker 
Than  you  may  call  to  comfort  you,  for  I 
Have  lost    my  daughter. 

Aon.  A  daughter? 

O  heavens,  that  they  were  living  both  in  Naples, 
The  king  and  queen  there!  that  they  were,  I  wish 
Myself  were  mudded  in  that  oozy  bed 
Where  my  son  lies.    When  did  you  lose  your  daugh- 
ter. 

Pros.  In  this  last  tempest.     I  perceive,  these  lords 
At  this  encounter  do  so  much  admire* 
That  they  devour  their  reason  and  scarce  think 

83 


Actv.  THE  TEMPEST. 

Their  eyes  do  offices  of  truth,  their  words 

Are  natural  breath :  but,  howsoe'er  you  have 

Been  justled  from  your  senses,  know  for  certain 

That  I  am  Prospero  and  that  very  duke 

Which     was     thrust     forth     of     Milan,     who     most 

.strangely 
Upon    this    shore,    where    you    were    wreck'd,    was 

landed, 

To  be  the  lord  on  't.     No  more  yet  of  this ; 
For  'tis  a  chronicle  of  day  by  day, 
Not  a  relation  for  a  breakfast  nor 
Befitting  this  first  meeting.     Welcome,  sir; 
This  cell's  my  court :  here  have  I  a  few  attendants 
And  subjects  none  abroad:  pray  you,  look  in. 
My  dukedom  since  you  have  given  me  again, 
I  will  requite  you  with  as  good  a  thing; 
At  least  bring  forth  a  wonder,  to  content  ye 
As  much  as  me  my  dukedom. 

*From  Lat.   admivare,   to  wonder. 

Here   PROSPERO   discovers  FERDINAND  and 
MIRANDA  playing  at  chess. 

Mir.  Sweet  lord,  you  play  me  false. 

Per.  No,  my  dear'st  love, 

I  would  not  for  the  world. 

Mir.  Yes,    for    a    score    of   kingdoms    you    should 

wrangle, 
And  I  would  call  it  fair  play. 

Alon.  If  this  prove 

A  vision  of  the  Island,  one  dear  son 
Shall  I  twice  lose. 

Seb.  A  most  high  miracle  ! 

Per.  Though  the  seas  threaten,  they  are  merciful ; 
I  have  cursed  them  without  cause.  (Kneels. 

Alon.  Now  all  the  blessings 

Of  a  glad  father  compass  thee  about ! 
Arise,  and  say  how  thou  earnest  here. 

Mir.  O,  wonder ! 

How  many  goodly  creatures  are  there  here ! 


Ferdinand  and  Miranda  playing  chess. 
ACT  V— SCENE  I. 


THE  TEMPEST.  scene  i. 

How  beauteous  mankind  is !     O  brave  new  world, 
That  has  such  people  in  't! 

Pros.  'Tis  new  to  thee. 

Alon.  What   is   this   maid   with   whom   thou   wast 

at  play? 

Your  eld'st  acquaintance  cannot  be  three  hours : 
Is  she  the  goddest  that  hath  sever'd  us, 
And  brought  us  thus  together? 

Per.  Sir,  she  is  mortal; 

But  by  immortal  Providence  she's  mine: 
I  chose  her  when  I  could  not  ask  my  father 
For  his  advice,  nor  thought  I  had  one.     She 
Is  daughter  to  this  famous  Duke  of  Milan, 
Of  whom  so  often  I  have  heard  renown, 
But  never  saw  before ;  of  whom  I  have 
Received  a  second  life;  and  second  father 
This  lady  makes  him  to  me. 

Alon.  I  am  hers  : 

But,  O,  how  oddly  will  it  sound  that  I 
Must  ask  my  child   forgiveness ! 

Pros.  There,  sir,  stop  : 

Let  us  not  burthen  our  remembrance  with 
A  heaviness  that's  gone. 

Gon.  I  have  inly  wept, 

Or  should  have  spoken  ere  this.     Look  down,  you 

gods. 

And  on  this  couple  drop  a  blessed  crown ! 
For  it  is  you  that  have  chalk'd  forth  the  way* 
Which  brought  us  hither. 

It  is  you  that  have  chalk'd  forth  the  way 

Cf.  Bacon  :   "To  mark    (one's   way)    with  chalk." 

Promus. 

Alon.  I  say,  Amen,  Gonzalo ! 

Gon.  Was   Milan  thrust  from  Milan,  that  his   is- 
sue 

Should  become  kings  of  Naples?     O,  rejoice 
Beyond  a  common  joy,  and  set  it  down 
With  gold  on  lasting  pillars :  In  one  voyage 
Did  Claribel  her  husband  find  at  Tunis, 

85 


Actv.  THE  TEMPEST. 

And  Ferdinand,  her  brother,  found  a  wife 
Where  he  himself  was  lost,  Prospero  his  dukedom 
In  a  poor  isle  and  all  of  us  ourselves 
When  no  man  was  his  own. 

Alon.  (To  Per.  and  Mir.)  Give  me  your  hands: 
Let  grief  and  sorrow  still  embrace  his  heart 
That  doth  not  wish  you  joy ! 

Gon.  Be  it  so  !  Amen  ! 

Re-enter  ARIEL,  with  the  MASTER  and  BOAT- 
SWAIN amazcdly  following. 
O,  look,  sir,  look,  sir !  here  is  more  of  us : 
I  prophesied,  if  a  gallows  were  on  land, 
This  fellow  could  not  drown.     Now,  blasphemy, 
That  swear'st  grace  o'erboard,  not  an  oath  on  shore  ? 
Hast  thou  no  mouth  by  land?  What  is  the  news? 

Boats.  The  best  news  is,  that  we  have  safely  found 

Our  king  and  company;  the  next,  our  ship 

Which,  but  three  glasses  since,  we  gave  out  split — 
Is  tight  and  yare  and  bravely  rigg'd  as  when 
We  first  put  out  to  sea. 

Ari.   (Aside  to  Pros.)    Sir,  all  this  service 
Have  I  done  since  I  went. 

Pros.   (Aside  to  Ari.)  My  tricksy  spirit! 

A  Ion.  These      are      not      natural      events;      they 

strengthen 

From    strange    to    stranger.    Say,    how    came    you 
hither? 

Boats.  If  I  did  think,  sir,  I  were  well  awake, 
I  'Id  strive  to  tell  you.     We  were  dead  of  sleep, 
And — how  we  know  not — all  clapp'd  under  hatches; 
Where  but  even  now  with  strange  and  several  noises 
Or  roaring,  shrieking,  howling,  jingling  chains, 
And  more  diversity  of  sounds,  all  horrible, 
We  were  awaked ;   straightway,  at  liberty ; 
Where  we,  in  all  her  trim,  freshly  beheld 
Our  royal,  good  and  gallant  ship,  our  master 
Capering  to  eye  her :  on  a  trice,  so  please  you, 
Even  in  a  dream,  were  we  divided  from  them 

86 


THE  TEMPEST.  Scene  i. 

And  were  brought  moping  hither. 

An.  (Aside  to  Pros.)  Was  't  well  done? 

Pros.  (Aside  to  Ari.)  Bravely,  my  diligence. 

Thou  shalt  be  free. 

Alon.  This  is  as  strange  a  maze  as  e'er  men  trod ; 
And  there  is  in  this  business  more  than  nature 
Was  ever  conduct  of:  some  oracle 
Must  -rectify  our  knowledge. 

Pros.  Sir,  my  liege, 

Do  not  infest  your  mind  with  beating  on 
The  strangeness  of  this  business ;  at  pick'd  leisure 
Which  shall  be  shortly,  single  I'll  resolve  you, 
Which  to  you  shall  seem  probable,  of  every 
These  happen'd  accidents;  till  when,  be  cheerful 
And  think  of  each  thing  well.  (Aside  to  Ari.)  Come 

hither,  spirit : 

Set  Caliban  and  his  companions  free; 
Untie  the  spell.    (Exit  Ariel)     How  fares  my  gra- 
cious sir? 

There  are  yet  missing  of  your  company 
Some  few  odd  lads  that  you  remember  not. 

Re-enter  ARIEL,  driving  in  CALIBAN,  STE- 
PHANO  and  TRINCULO,  in  their  stolen  ap- 
parel. 

Ste.  Every  man  shift  for  all  the  rest,  and  let  no 
man  take  care  for  himself;  for  all  is  but  fortune. 
Coragio,  bully-monster,  coragio! 

Trin.  If  these  be  true  spies  which  I  wear  in  my 
head,  here's  a  goodly  sight. 

Cal.  O  Setebos,  these  be  brave  spirits  indeed! 
How  fine  my  master  is !    I  am  afraid 
He  will  chastise  me. 

Seb.  Ha,  ha ! 

What  things  are  these,  my  lord  Antonio? 
Will  money  buy  'em? 

Ant.  Very  like;  one  of  them 

Is  a  plain  fish,  and,  no  doubt,  marketable. 

87 


Act  v,  THE  TEMPEST. 

Pros.  Mark    but    the    badges    of    these    men,    my 

lords, 

Then. say  if  they  be  true.     This  mis-shapen  knave, 
His  mother  was  a  witch,  and  one  so  strong 
That  could  control  the  moon,  make  flows  and  ebbs, 
And  deal  in  her  command  without  her  power. 
These  three  have  robb'd  me ;  and  this  demi-devil — 
For  he's  a  bastard  one — had  plotted  with  them 
To  take  my  life.     Two  of  these  fellows  you 
Must  know  and  own ;  this  thing  of  darkness  1 
Acknowledge  mine. 

Cal.  I  shall  be  pinch'd  to  death. 

Alon.  Is  not  this  Stephano,  my  drunken  butler? 

Seb.  He  is  drunk  now :  where  had  he  wine  ? 

Aon.  And  Trinculo  is  reeling  ripe:   where  should 

they 

Find  this  grand  liquor  that  hath  gilded  'em? 
How  earnest  thou  in  this  pickle? 

Trin.  I  have  been  in  such  a  pickle  since  I  saw  you 
last  that,  I  fear  me,  will  never  out  of  my  bones :  I 
shall  not  fear  fly-blowing. 

Seb.  Why,   how  now,   Stephano ! 

Ste.  O,  touch  me  not;  I  am  not  Stephano,  but  a 
cramp. 

Pros.  You  'Id  be  king  o'  the  isle,   sirrah? 

Ste.  I  should  have  been  a  sore  one  then. 

Afon.  This  is  a  strange  thing  as  e'er  I  look'd  on. 

(Pointing   to   Caliban. 

Pros.  He  is  as  disproportion' d  in  his  manners 
As  in  his  shape.     Go,  sirrah,  to  my  cell ; 
Take  with  you  your  companions ;  as  you  look 
To  have  my  pardon,  trim  it  handsomely. 

Cal.  Ay,  that  I  will ;  and  I'll  be  wise  hereafter 
And  seek  for  grace.     What  a  thrice-double  ass 
Was  I,  to  take  this  drunkard  for  a  god 
And  worship  this  dull  fool ! 

Pros.  Go  to  ;  away ! 

Alon.  Hence,  and  bestow  your  luggage  where  you 
found  it. 

88 


THE  TEMPEST.  scene  i. 

Seb.  Or  stole  it,  rather. 

(Exeunt  CdL,  Ste.,  and  Trin. 

Pros.  Sir,  I  invite  your  highness  and  your  train 
To  my  poor  cell,  where  you  shall  take  your  rest 
For  this  one  night;  which,  part  of  it,  I'll  waste 
With  such  discourse  as,  I  doubt,  shall  make  it 
Go  quick  away;  the  story  of  my  life 
And  the  particular  accidents  gone  by 
Since  I  came  to  this  isle :  and  in  the  morn 
I'll  bring  you  to  your  ship  and  so  to  Naples, 
Where  I  have  hope  to  see  the  nuptial 
Of  these  our  dear-beloved  solemnized; 
And  thence  retire  me  to  my  Milan,  where 
Every  third  thought  shall  be  my  grave. 

Alon.  I  long 

To  hear  the  story  of  your  life,  which  must 
Take  the  ear  strangely. 

Pros.  I'll  deliver  all; 

And  promise  you  calm  seas,  auspicious  gales 
And  sail  so  expeditious  that  shall  catch 
Your  royal  fleet  far  off.    (A$ide  to  Ari.)   My  Ariel, 

chick, 

That  is  thy  charge :  then  to  the  elements 
Be  free,  and  fare  thou  well !     Please  you,  draw  near. 

(Exeunt. 

EPILOGUE. 
Spoken  by  PROSPERO. 

Now  my  charms  are  all  o'erthrown, 
And  what  strength  I  have's  mine  own, 
Which  is  most  faint:  now,  'tis  true, 
I  must  be  here  confined  by  you, 
Or  sent  to  Naples.     Let  me  not, 
Since  I  have  my  dukedom  got 
And  pardon'd  the  deceiver,  dwell 
In  this  bare  island  by  your  spell ; 
But  release  me  from  my  bands 
With  the  help  of  your  good  hands : 
Gentle  breath  of  yours  my  sails 


Actv.  THE  TEMPEST. 

Must  fill,  or  else  my  project  fails, 
Which  was  to  please.     Now  I  want 
Spirits  to  enforce,  art  to  enchant, 
And  my  ending  is  despair, 
Unless  I  be  relieved  by  prayer, 
Which  pierces  so  that  it  assaults 
Mercy  itself  and  frees  all  faults. 
As  you  from  crimes  would  pardon'd  be, 
Let  your  indulgence  set  me  free. 
*" Shakespeare  closed  the  wonderful  series  of  his  dra- 
matic  writings    by   exhibiting    the    noblest    elevation   of 
character,  the  most  admirable  attainment  of  heart,  of  in- 
tellect,   of  will,  which   our   present   life   admits,   in    the 
person  of  Prospero. 

Dowden's  Shak.  Mind  &  Art,  P.   76. 


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